LETTERS 


TO 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON^ 


r  SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY 

OF    THE 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,, 

INSPECTOR-GENERAL  or  THE  STANDING  ARMIES 

THEREOF, 

COUNSELLOR  AT  LAW* 

&c.  &c.  &c» 

e;ng   intende'd   as   a    reply  to    A    SCANDALOUS    PAMPHLE¥ 
lately     publifhed  under    the  fantfion,    as    it   is  pre- 
fumed,    of    Mr.    Hamilton,     an4    figned   with 
the  fignature    of   JUNIUS   PHILJLNDS. 


Bv    TOM    CALLENDER,    Esc^ 

ClTIZXX    oy    THE    WORLD* 


BY  RICHARD  REYNOLDS,  No.  27,  DEY-STREET> 
i  So?,. 


'4  LETTERS    TO 

tronage  that  it  is   impossible  for  any  man  of  com- 
mon experience?   not  to  lee  "  the  mark  of  the  beast 
on  its  forehead." — The  amanuenfisj  is  too  contempti- 
ble  a  creature  for  me  to   purfue,  I  therefore  addrefs 
rnyfelf  to  the  principal    and  father  of  the, bantling, — 
not  fo  much;' on  account  of  any  injury 'that  'that  filthy 
Tcrcu'p'miade  could  ever  produce  to  the  prcfent  peace- 
able adminlflration,   becaufe  it   is   a  weak  and  filly 
performance^  ..which    muft    defeat   its  own    purpofc ; 
not  ont  account,  of  any  any  injury  .you  or  thp  Jerfy- 
Joye,  the  apoftate  Luther  Martin,   the  vulgar   Pick- 
erings  and    Wolcot'.s,     the    Harpooners*     Burrs   or 
Brutuses,   '&c.    could    erFe6t.     None:  of  tho'fe   rca- 
fons  or  fears   have  operated  upon  me5  to  provoke  me 
into  revenge   againft  any  of  the  v, hole   corps  of  YE. 
It  is  the  diilurbance  which    j£  are  continually  railing 
up  againrt'the  public   tranquillity  !* — I  am  happy  that 
we:  now  all   "live  at   peace   in  this   country   and  that 
men    of. wealth   are  well  "fe cured  in  -  their  property-, 
vvkhout   having  recourfe  to   tbe 'bi'6od   thirfty  phins 
of  .burning   villages,   as  it  '  i's  "reportc J,    you   had  de- 
C'lsrcd.  ancM  believe  \rith  great  trvthj  you  would  have1 
put  into  operation?  if  you  could  only  liave  provoked 
any   of  the  infurgents   to  fhoot   -a  ilngle   man  of  the 
militia  or  vokrnteers  who  mrjxfled   out,   in   my  opi- 
nion, wkh   tfie   utmofl  honor  and  fpirit,  to  quell  art 
iunovation   againd   the    laws    of   the  United    States, 
but  never,   oh  never,   had  they  collectively   any  fuch 
harrkl    idea   as  that    of    ft&inirig   tlicir  ha&(.is   ia  the 
blood  of    dieir  fellovv-citiscns    without   difcrinuna-. 


'ALEXANDER  HAMILTON  5 

lion  ! — I  have  been  told  of  this  your  declaration,  fo 
often  that  I  was  almofl  convinced  it  was  true.  But 
let  me  here  declare  to  you,  that,  at  this  day  I  have 
flrong  doubts  of  its  veracity,  and  I  wiih  you  couljl 
deny  it  unequivocally—  that  you  frefiimed  to  take  a  i-f,  -to 
like  ILmr.ibal,  «  THEY  (your  confidants,)  fhouM 
either  ice  you  returning  at  the  hrad  of  a  triumr riant 
army  or  ice  you  without  a  head  !"  I  don't  know  be- 
fore what  altar  you  could  have  made  fo  defnerate  an 
oath  ?— Nor  am  I  inclined  to  give  it  credence,  he- 
caufe  I  am  not,  nor  ever  have  been,  your  perlonal 
enemy.  If,  however,  in  "the  fefult  it  fhould  appear* 
that  you  really' .did -life  -fuch:  an  expreffion  ;  there  will 
remain  little  doubt  in  my  mind,  of  your  having 
"  foftcred,"  in  the  language  6f  your  friend  Afriiodeus 
of  Morrifani'-a,  an  hope,  of  what  ?  of  crufhirig  down 
the  fpirit  of  republicanism  by  FORCE  OF'AR'MS  ! 
The  God  of  nature  was  difguft'ed ,  with  the  brutal' 
purpofe,  and  although  you  have  enlifted  a  few  re- 
fpectable  gentlemen  of  tlie  pulpit  to  write  in  favor  of 
your  fyftems — thofe  defenders  of  your  faith  will 
foon  forfake  you. — Let  them  look  at  my  motto — let 
them  read  over  the  fourth  arid  fifth  chapters  of  F'aniel — 
and  confefs  that  they  are  very  applicable  to  yours 
and  John  Adams's  adrniniilratipns,  for  we  know,; 
that  the  great  and  good  Wafhington  was  liable  to  be 
impofedon  by  both  of  ye;  let  thofe  political  preach- 
ers coniider  the  fate  of  B  E  LT  E  s  H  A  z  z  A  R,  and  ther* 
confefs  whether  the  tkjWJ1  ne  brought  upon  him- 
fcjf  was  not  juft  and  morcifuL  coufideiing  the  • 


f  BETTERS    TO 

• 

crimes  he  had  committed  !  His  fall  was  fudden  an.cj 
great — and  fo  has  been  the  Fall  of  the  Monarchical 
party  in  the  United  States.  They  attempted  to  fef 
tis  all  at  war  with  one  another.  To  tax  us  as  cruel- 
}y  as  the  Jews  were  by  the  .  jEgyptians?  to  put 
gags  in  our  mouths,  fo  that  we  dared  not  to  open 
our  lips  in  the  War-Office  or  Treafury,  or  Cuflom- 
Houfcs  of  America  !  leaft  fome  half  a  dozen  up- 
Jtart  clerks  and  informers  fhould  bear  falfe  wit-, 
nefs  againft  us.  and  bring  us  up  to  the  lull-ring^ 
.pf  peifecuticn. 

THOSE  were  hard  times?  Mr.  Hamilton*  and 
Although  perhaps  you  did  not  direclly  fanction  fuch 
5-lliberality  ;  I  have  feen  you  fmiling  with  pleafurfr 
at  the  heart-fcalding  effects  it  produced ;  even* 
sunongft  feme  of  your  own  old  friends  and  compa- 
jitots  in  \var.  How  could  you  fmile  at  the  honeft 
Cjomplaints  of  a  good  old  whig  ? — I  fhall  never  allow 
any  man  in  my  prefence  to  fay  that  you  are  dif- 
ioneft;  but  furely  you  have  expofed  yourfelf,  as 
l?eing  the  monument  that  enclofed  a  living  fpirit 
qf  deftruclion  to  the  wealth  and  profperity  of  all- 
America. 

THIS  may  appear  to  fome  of  your  friends,  to 
be  rather  an  harfh  expreilion_,  yet  tt  is  my  inten- 
tion to  endeavour  to  prove  it  to  be  founded 
5n  truth?  as  I  tc  ex-pefl"  to  cio,  in  the  phrafe  of  one 
of  your  fatellites  (Wolcott)  in  the  courfe  cf  rlus 
correfpondence. 


/     • 
ALEXANDER    HAMILTON 


THE  fchifm  that  has  been  attempted  to  be  fet 
on  foot  by  the  Vice-Prefident,  amongft  the  repub- 
licans, is  a  thing  totally  beneath  my  notice,  be- 
caufe  it  will  die  and  rot  of  its  own  corruption, 
and  we  fhall  have  no  more  of  thofe  cloudy  days 
bf  terror  which  difgfaced  the  late  adminiftration,  but 
ftill  I  can  not  fuffl-r  myfelf  to  believe  that  you 
could  proftitute  your  talents  to  fanclion  that  dif- 
graceful  fyftem.  Vou  certainly  muft  have  a  proper 
fefpect  for  the  character  that  rs  to  be  efli  mated  of 
you  by  the  children  of  futurity.  But  the  fchifm  at- 
tempted by  Burr,  although  it  is  defpicable  in  my 
eyes,  as  is  the  founders  of  it — flill  leaves  a  doubt 
behind,  that  you  either  know  fomcthing  of  its  origin, 
or,  after  a  time,  you  muft  have  fuffered  yourfelf  to 
approve  of  the  plot — I  hope  not. — It  is  for  reafons  like 
ihefe,  and  they  are  far  from  chimerical ;  that  I  am 
6'bliged  to  view  you  in  the  light  of  a  very  defpcrate 
and  dangerous  enemy  to  fociety,  although  I  am  ready 
fo  ]oin  in  the  general  approbation  of  your  valuable 
abilities,  and  your  abftemioufnefs  from  all  pecuniary 
conliderations  and  all  other  lublunary  things! 

I  DO   not  mean  to   hurt  your  -private  feelings,  but 
only  to   make  fome  general  oblervations   upon  your' 
pblitical  career,  from  its  Alpha  to  its  Qmegay  -which  I ' 
think  muft  now  be  fait  approaching,  from  your  con- ' 
nection  with   fo  fcurrilous  a  wretch  as  he  who   could 
Lave  penned  the  pamphlet  fubfcribed  by  m  after  Juni-  , 
us  Phil  anus*  whofe   infolence  is   equal   to  his   igpo-- 
ianc6  whbfc  cohaevliQu'witii  you  muil  be  difgraceful 


•••••• 

g  LETTERS    TO- 

• 

— whofe'Biliingfgate  ftyle  is  lower  than  even  the  brutal 
Bntihi-PcTcupine — But  he  fliall  be  dliTtcted  in  my- 
next  letter?  or  Tome  other  letter  in  this  feries?  which 

I  have  fat  down  to  write  for  no  other,  reafon  than 
the  defence  of  truth?  honor,   virtue?   and  real   patri- 
ot! fm  ;  unfophifticated  patriotifm. — Unlike  your  com- 
plicated fchemes. — Unlike  Adams's  dreams. — Unlike 
ftuer's     financial     operations?     which    you    had    the 
fol]y    to   father. 

THE     very   lengthy     introductory-apology    which 
prefaces  matter  Philapn-us's  pamphlet?-  was   not, — no, 
never,   written  by  the   fame  hand  that  afterwards  links, 
into  .the   lowed  filth    ot   fweep-chimncy's    dial  eel. — ^ 

II  is   debut?   however? .. is   perhaps  .intended   to   fne\v 
us   that  he    Is   a  fportfman,  by    the    ufe   of  the   wcrd 
*c  Bevy    of  hungry    expectants."     OF-  which  number, 
lie  vozvs    in  Yankee    r-hrale?  that  he's   not  one,    HE 
fiimfelf — \vhb    has   taken  up   fo  many  pages  to  define 
his  own  excellence — -he  never  \vas.an  expectant  for  any. 
ofEcc,  nor  would  he  accept    of  one  were   it  lo  be. - 
offered  to  him,    let  it  be  ever   fo  lucrative  ? — As  well 
might  Oliver  Wojcott  publifh  to   the  world  the  bare-, 
faced   alfertion,.  that   he  himfelf  .  was   the  entire  and 
fole  author  of  a  lame  defence,   lately  -publiflic'd,    of 
the   late  adminiilration  ;•— or  have  the  effrontery   to  ' 
tell  the  peopte  of   the  United  Sates-,    that  he  did  not  ; 
come  to   New-York  to  get  it  corrected  and  amended 
by  the  centre  f!ugci-man  of  all  mifchief,— who  is  fti'll 
ihe  rallying  point  for  the  out-calls  of  republicanifm^ 


HAMILTO 


N*. 


meetings,    Cacufies,   plots,    and   ftratagerns, 
kre  not  fo  fecfet  as  the  junto  may  vainly  imagine. 

THEIR  frequent  intrigues  at  New-York  will  never 
be  conftrued  into  innocent  viiits  erf  private  friend- 
fhip. — The  Jerfiy-Jove's  races  through  the  three  mid- 
dle ftates  are  not-  all  probably  intended  as  viiits  of 
.  perfonal  refpeel  to  the  fallen  angels  of  an  intended 
royal  ftandard — neither  di,d  Luther  Martin,  and  many 
others  whom  I  may  probably  make  mention  of  here- 
after? all  come  here  to  New- York  for  nothing  ? — 
llave  riot  you  Mr.  llamiltori,  expreffed  yourfelf  iri 
a  very  treafonable  ftyle  at  the  town-ineetihsrs  amongft 
the  Cartmen  or  the  Shoe-makers — fomethlng  about 
fii6tating  to  the  Preficlent  of  the  United  States  what- 
fever  laws  and  regulations  YOU  pleafed  ?  fey  what 
means  ?  By  ftirring  up  a  fort  or"  rebellion  in  die 
eaftern  ftates  ! 

SHALL  we  not  have  the  freedom  of  election  al- 
lowed us  to  choofe  a  good  and  virtuous  man  for  our 
Prefident  ? — Would  you  and  Dayton  have  dragooned 
us  out  of  our  right  of  fufFrage  ? — You  have  always 
arrogated  too  much  DOMINION  to  yourfelf,  over 
the  minds  of  men.— -You  were  not  pleafed  with  the 
INS  PI  RED  WASHINGTON;  for  I  will  call  him  fuch, 
for  our  commander  iri  chief.  You  faid,  as  I  was  toldj 
from  the  lips  of  General  Malcom,  "  that  Wa'fh ing- 
ton  was  totally  unequal  to  the  talk  of  commanding; 
the  revolutionary  armies  ;  and  that  there  was  none  of 
the  officers  excepting  General  Greene,  qualified  for 
duty,"  §ir — no  man  will  deny  the  great  and 
B* 


noble  virtues  of  YOUR  FAVORITE;  but,  when  yotf 
prefumed  to  depreciate  the  talents  of  the  virtuous 
hero  of  his  country,  ycm  added  no  laurels  to  the 
brows  of  Greene  : — all-hallowed  be  the  memory' 
of  each  of  them. 

As  to  your  own  merits  and  fervices>  they  would 
have  been  handed  down  to  poflerity  with  their  jufl 
approbation  had  you  ftuck  by  the  good  old  caufe  of 
republicanifmj  but  when  we  faw  you  fo  foon  after 
the  revolution  (hooting  yourielf  like  a.tangent  into  the 
atmofphere  of  monarchy,  and  attempting  to  impofe  it 
on  the  people  under  falfe  colours—by  calling  it  fede- 
ralifm  when  you  knew  very  well  it  was  no  mofe  than 
a  ftepping  ftone  toXvard  tyranny — when  we  confulered 
all  the  dark  intrigues  and  deep-laid  plots  of  your  par- 
ty flowing  on  fo  faft,  like  a  tide  of  dellrufUoh,  to' 
Overwhelm  us  ! — it  was  then  high  time  to  ftem  thb 
torrent*  and  it  has  happily  been  effe6ted — by  the  re- 
moval of  you  and  your  dangerous  army  of  informers, 
fpeculator:"?  and  ITragooners  cf  the  people,  from  the: 
high  fhtions  ye  held  over  the  affairs  of  this  now  hap-' 
py  country?  which  never  was  fecured  before  in  the 
blemngs  of  peace  and  good  government.  That  you 
all  have'  acknowledged  the  federal  confthution  to  be 
no  more  than  a  {ham  to  introduce  a  monarchy,  is  welf 
known  by  the  various  fpeeches  and  eflays  of  Mr* 
Adams  and  many  others  and  even  by  the  young  con-3 
fidantj  Fennb,  who  publifhed  his  mar-plot  pamphlet 
entitled  "  DESULTORY  OBSERVATIONS,"  on  the 
affairs  of  the  United  States. 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON.  I  I 

THE  fall  which  your  party  has  experienced  was 
therefore  no  more  ihan  you -celerved,  and  1  believe  as 
jurtly  infilled  on  ye,  as  the  punifhmem  of  Beltefha^- 
zer,  as  mentioned  in  my  motto.  The  people  are  at 
length  fatisfied  with  die  tranquility  and  profperity 
that  furrounds  them,  they  can  fleep  in  peace  without 
being  terrified  with  the  ihouts  of  warriors. —  They  are 
not  betrayed  by  fpies— they  enJQy  the  light  of  heaven 

without  being  infulted  and  imprifoned-by  excife-men 

they  can  tranfacl  their  commercial  and  other  relations 
without  going  to  a  -(lamp-office  Sec.     But  you  will  not 
permit   us    to    live  in    this  tranquility  and  happinefs. 
-—The  difbanded   few,    who   have    loft    their  confc- 
fjuence,  are  everlaflingly  trumping  up  fome  infamous 
falfehqod   in   the   news-papers,  .in  pamphlets  and   iii 
treafonable  night  CqucuJJes,  which  it  is  certain  are  fre- 
quently held   in  New-York,  and  in    the  management 
.pf  which  focieties,  it  is  ftrpngly  fufpecled    you  are  a 
principal.     The  pamphlet  now  before  me,  of  Junius 
Philtsnus,   is  a  handfcrnc  fpecimen  of  the  malignity  of 
the  men  who  encouraged  its  publication,    and  if  ycra 
Sir,  were  of  the  number  it  will  never  redound  to  your 
fame  or  character.     The  world    has  never   yet  heard 
from   Mr.  Jefferfon,  the   real  caufes  of  many  of  the 
removals  he  has  been   obliged  to  make.     It  was  lord 
chief  juftice  Mansfield's  opinion    that    a  man    at  the 
head  of  a  public  office  fhoujd  never  give  his  reafons 
..for   the  removal   of  thofe  who   fnould  render   them- 
felves  deferving  of  it — and  who    knows  what  proofs 
complaints,    what  letters  and  flrong" 


12  tETTERS     TO 

may  have  been  laid  before  Mr,  Jefferfon,  of  the  !1| 
conduct  of  many  of  thofe  who  have  loft  the  confidence 
of  the  adminiftration — Yet  they  will  not  reft  quiet 
under  their  imaginary  difgrace,  but  for  ever  keep  up  a 
fire  of  ilander  againft  him.  It  would  be  better  for 
their  Own  fakes  they  would  be  filent,  as,  if  the  Preii- 
clcnt  fliould  be  urged  to  publifh  the  reafons  of  fome. 
pf 'their  rernoVals,  it  would?  perhaps,  only  add  to 
their  chagrin — better  for  them  to  remain  contented 
with  the  limple  punifhment  of  removal,  than  have  the 
complicated  ciifgrace  of  their  characters  being  alfq 
expoicd.  There  never  was  fo  great  a  crowd  of  public 
offices  filled  by  men  who  were  every  one  immaculate! — 
Humanity  is  liable  to  error.  The  countenance  and 
support  which,  I  am  convinced,  you  give  to  the 
EVENING  POST,  and  to.  moft  of  the  same  descrip- 
tion of  scandalous  prints,  as  well  as  the  encourage- 
ment to  such  reptiles  as  Junius  PhiJanus?  is  so  dis- 
gusting to  the  true  friends  of  America,  that  you  have 
drawn  down  their  indignation  upon  yourfelf.  You 
have  deferred  the  caufe  of  genuine  repubHcanifm,  and 
fled  to  the  ftandard  of  Aristocracy.  You  held  a  poft 
of  high  rank  among  the  Duke  of  Braintree's  WELL- 
BORN fons,  until  you  were  almoft  afhamed  of  it  and 
him,  Your  letter,  addreffed  to  him,  is  Efficient  for 
me  to  believe  that  you  moft  heartily  defpifed  him. — 
But,  your  enmity  againft  the  prefent  Admi-niftration, 
proceeds  from  very  different  motives.  You  do  not-s- 
you  cannot  look  with  the  fame  degree  of  contempt 
on  the  abilities  and  virtues  of  Mr.  J  E  F  F  E  R  SON  wltU 
which  you  viewed  the  weaknefs  and  vanity  of  Mi;-. 
Adams.  Your  pretended  difapprobation  of  the 


NDER    HMILTON*.  IS 

indent's   conduct,    is   only  external;    for,  I  will  pay 

you  the  compliment  to   fay,    that  I  fincerely  believe 

-your  heart  approves  of  it.       The  chief  objection   to 

him  is  the  difplacing  of  fome  men  who  could   net,—*- 

would  n  f,   concur  wi  h   the   falutary  and  abfolutely 

iv-re/ar"  meaiures  that  he  has  adopted  for  the  prefer-* 

vation   of  the    government.     Su  Tofe    ?ir5    that   you 

were,  for  inftanre,   elevated  to  the-  Presidential  chair, 

and  were  to  be  made  acquainted  with  fome  mal-prae- 

tices  in  the    various  departments  of  the    adminiftra- 

tion — would  you  not   remove    thofe  men  from  office 

"whom  you    fhould  find  to    be  guilty  ?    I   muft  think 

you    certainly    would.     And   yet  there  are    many  of 

this   defer!  ption    who   i'till   hold   their    places    under 

Mr.  JefFerfon;  becaufe,  perhaps,  he  does  not  yet  know 

their    faults — Suppofe    Sir,  you,  as  Prefident  of  the 

United  States,  were   to  be  fubftantially  convinced  in 

the   moft   unequivocal  manner,    that   any   officer  of 

'confiderable    confequence,    with    a   good   fat  falary> 

fhould  live  fo  diffipated  a  life  as  to  be  obliged  to  bor-. 

row  money   from  all    his    induftrious    neighbours  to 

fupport  his   extravagance,   nay  even  fo  obtain  it  in  a 

furreptitious  manner  from  a  merchant?  under  the  cloak 

of  his  office — he   fhould  apply   it  to  his  own  private 

life,  and  leave  the  merchant  afterwards  to  pay  it  over 

again — and  after  all   this    ihameful  tranfaclion,   this 

officer  fhould  refufe  to  refund  the  money  or  fecure  it 

« — but   fuffer  himfelf  to  be  expofed  by  a  fuit  in  the 

Mayor's  court,  which  he  put  off  as  long  as  the  court 

would  permit  his  lawyers  to  do  it;    and?  finally,,  when 

the  merchant  was  on  the  point  of  getting  out  an  ex- 

£cutian>  he   was  aftonifhed  to  find  die  caufe  was  ro* 


.ffc  LETTERS    TO 

jnoved  into  another  court.  I  fay  Mr.  Hamilton,  if 
you  were?  Prefident  of  the  United  States  would  you 
.not  remove  this  officer  from  your  confidence?  I  am 
Jure  you  would. 

BUT  Sir.  this  is  only  one  inftance  out  of  many 
^hich  might  be  mentioned  to  {hew  that  the  Prefident 
is  in  pofleffion  of  fufficient  information  to  induce 
him  to  act  as  he  has  done;  and  that,  fo  far  from  treat- 
ing thofe  difcarded  gentlemen  with  cruelty,  he  keeps 
their  faults  fecret,  which  is  the  milder!  method  he  could 
4*ave  adopted.  For  the  proof  of  the  above  facl,  I  need 
f>n!y  refer  you  to  the  records  of  the  courts,  and  tq 
the  information  of  one  of  your  moil  intimate  friends 
^t  the  bar. — Verlum  fat, 

No\y,  let  me  aik  my  fellow-citizens,  whether  our 
public  affairs  are  not  now  Iqdged  in  fafer  hands  than, 
they  would  have  been,  had  the  people  fuffered  them  to 
remain  in  die  hands  of  men  of  fuch  characters  as  I 
have  defcribed- — is  not  the  monied  and  the  landed  in- 
ierefts  of  the  country  as  fafe  in  the  hands  of  our 
prefent  happy  adminilh'ation,  as  it  could  have  been 
tinder  the  government  of  the  former  .rulersr— have 
we  not,  at  kajl,  as  good  fecurity  for  the  honor  of  our 
wives  and  daughters  !  !  ! 

Your  amorous  tranfa6lions  I  will  not  hint  at  Ijct 
^hefe  letters,  unlefs  fome  of  the  fcribbling  fools 
fhould  provoke  me  to  it  by  ufing  fuch  low  indelicate 
innuendos  as  the  pamphlet  now  alluded  to  is  fluffed 
with.  Defperate  indeed  muft  be  the  fituation  of  that 
faction  who  would  hire  fuch  fcurrillous  fcribblers.  It 
has  been  faid  of  the  people  of  Connecticut,  that  they 
had  for  the  lad  three  or  four  years?  taken  the  S.HJI*£ 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON  ff 

<6f  diiTim ulation  from  every  other  date  or  nation — the 
poor  Irifh  not  excepted.  But  the  whole  ftatc  of 
Connecticut  cannot  produce  half  a  dozen  fuch  credt* 
Uhabk  gentlemen  as  have  broken  into  this  country,  with- 
in a  few  years  from  Caledonia,  fake  notice)  Sir,  I 
mean  no  reflection  on  that  country  in  general?  be- 
caufe  I  circulate  fome  Scotch  blood,  as  probably  may' 
be  the  cafe  with  yourfelf.  I  now  confine  my  remarks 
to  the  Callender  at  Richmond,  and  John  Wood* 
lately  of  New-York,  who  have  been  fo  kindly  re- 
ceived into  the  monarchical  club — Mr.  Wood  is  really 
a  valuable  acquijition  to  any  fociety — he  is  teacher  of 
half  a  dozen  languages,  none  of  which  can  he 
fpeak  or  write  ! — if  this  be  not  prefumption,  I  know 
not  where  impertinence  will  end.  One  day,  like  Mr. 
I^nngi  on  the  French  negro-landing,  he  tells  truth  by 
affirming  to  the  world  that  he  is  a  liar,  and  the  next 
he  aflert's  that  he  was  a  lia-r  when  he  told  the 
the  truth  ! — yet  this  is  the  man  who  has  had  the  afTu-< 
f ance  to*  undertake  to  write  upon  religion,  and  go- 
vernment— w HO w i L t  BELIEVE  HIM  ? — what  an 
handfome  importation  it  was  when  we  hail'd  him  and 
ftie  wheel-barrow  man  to  our  fhores  ?  neither  of  them 
£ould  know  any  thing  of  the  true  ititerefts  of  Ame-* 
rica.  But  they  M$l  try  their  hands,  alfo>  at  book-ma- 
king. Every  cow-boy  in  Scotland  attempts  to  be- 
come an  a'uthor,  and  with  the  effrontery  of  Belzebub 
they  will  venture  neck  and  limb  on  writing  a  book; 
and  when  they  are  found  out  afterwards  to  be  nothing 
better  than  common  plagiaries  and  impoftors,  their 
shai-a&er  Hands  in  as  good  a  iuuation  as  it  was- 


)6  LETTERS  Te 

fore.  They  lofe  nothing,  and  they  gain  notoriety; 
much  in  the  fame  way  that  the  famous  Guy  Faux  did* 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  they  may  meet  with  a  fimilar 
reward.  In  making  this  obfervation,  I  muft  repeat 
my  former  declaration,  that  I  mean  to  make  no  allu- 
fion  or  refle£tion  upon  that  country  which  has  produ- 
ced fo  many  men  of  as  great  abilities  and  virtue  as  any 
nation  whatever* 

THIS  moft  difgraceful  and  unnatural  enlitlment  of 
Wood  and  Calendar  into  the  monarchial-federal  corps 
can  never  aid  or  affift  to  raife  up  thofe  men  who  have 
juftly  loft  their  confequence  in  the  eyes  of  the  public; 
but  who  are  driving  hard  to  deceive  about  five  mil- 
lions of  fenflble  people  into  the  idea>  THAT  THKY, 
— the  difcomfited,  and  difcarded  few—are  the  ONLY 
MEN  fitted  to  hold  the  reins  of  government. — Was  it 
iiot  right  end  wife  to  fnatch  the  whips  from  their 
hands  ?  Such  defperate  men  as  thefe  are  would  now 
wade  up  to  their  necks  in  blood  to  recover  their  for- 
mer flations,  and  like  Milton's  Prince  of  the  power 
of  foul  airs,  they  would  rebel  againfr.  any  government 
let  it  be  ever  fo  well  administered*  unlefs  THEY  were 
to  be  the  fupreme  dictators.  No  wonder  that  the  peo- 
ple of  luch  an  enlightened  Country  as  ours,  iliculd 
take  the  reins,  the  whips  and  the  fpurs  away  from  thofe 
Jehus.  And  if  THEY  fhould  EVER  recover  them  a- 
gain,  it  muft  hap'pen  in  confequence  of  fome  extraor- 
dinary anodynes  being  treacherously  adminiftered  to 
lull  the  people  into  a  profound  ilcep,  whilft  THEY 
1^ere  Paoli-ing  them.  It  is  not  THIIR'  abilities,  either 
as  writers,  painters,  politicians,  printers,  or  foldiers, — 
that  can  give  them  ta  fuperior  title  to  the 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  17 

*>f  mankind  —  becaufe,  We  have  always  experienced 
the  fupenor  powers  of  the  republican  fpirit,  whenever 
they  were  forced  or  provoked  to  exert  it.  And  fo  it 
will  be  for  ever  more,  AMEN. 

IN  my  next  letter,  I  (hall  probably  take  fome  no- 
tice of  your  hopeful  young  fcfibe  Phila:nus  —  But 
left  I  ihould  tire  you  too  much  at  the  firft  onfet,  I 
will  here  make  a  r  A  u  SE  !  —  in  the  borrowed  language 
<3f  your  friend  Afmodeus,  who  conceited  himfelf,  no 
doubtj  a  fecorid  Cicero,  (as  I  may  call  myfelf  a  fe- 
cond  Daniel)  for  tc  you  have  been  weighed  in  the  ba- 
lance, and  found  wanting"  —  and  your  dominion  Over 
the  government  of  the  United  States  fhall  be  taken 
from  you  and  divided  amongft  the  old  whigs  and  re- 

publicans* 

TOM   CALLENDER. 


LETTER  II. 

f 

SIR, 

**  IN  addreiTmg  you,"  faith  your  young  fcriblertis, 
MAM  NOT  ACTUATED  by  any  of  ihofe  motives 
which  have  gathered  around  you  fuch  a  BEVY  of 
hungry  expectants,"  &c.  In  conformity  to  the  plan 
attempted  by  him,  the  faid  amanuenfis,  1  can  fafely  fay? 
that,  neither  am  I  a6ruated  by  any  fuch  motives  :  — 
nor  fhall  my  refpect  for  Mr.  Hamilton's  literary- 
abilities,  intimidate  me  into  the  fubmim've  ffile  of 
PM  IL;ENU3,  who  takes  up  five  arid  twenty  pages  of 
ills  pamphlet  about  himfelf  arid  his  wonderful  acquire- 
ments, and  political  and  religious  tenets.  On  the  con* 


LETTERS    TO 

trary,  I  will  make  no  apology  to  the  public  for  wri- 
ting thefe  letters  to  you  Sir,  whcm  I  have  always 
eoafidered  as  the  greatefl  ftfachiavel  in  America,  al- 
though I  never  thought  you  were  the  GREATEST 
man. 

THIS  was  the  opinion  of  Bifhop  Talleyrand:- 
That  thou  wert  the  Saviour  of  this  happy  land.  But 
whether  the  bifiiop  did  or  did  not  exprefs  thofe  fenti- 
ments  to  Dofior  Smith,  of  South  Carolina,  over  a 
bottle  of  wine,  is  a  query  of  little  coniequence  to 
the  world  i  as  William  Smith's  character  has  been 
tolerably  well  defined  by  Doclor  Ramfey,  to  whoever 
will  take  the  trouble  to  look  into  the  Charleflowr* 
newf-papers  at  the  time  of  their  contefted  election. 

THE  high-flowing  ftile  of  yourfelf  which  only  ob- 
fcures  the  understanding  without  convincing  it,  Ifhall 
not  attempt  upon  the  good  fenfe  of  my  fellow-citi- 
zens? neither  will  I  box  the  compafs  of  dicHonary- 
jfliip  like  meffieurs  Webfter,  Coleman,  Phibenus,  and 
Co.  to  fleal  language  of  which  they  were  never  origi- 
nally poffeffed.  I  fay  Sir?  I  mean  not  to  ape  your 
lofty  ftile?  nor  mimic  the  low  cant  of  Coleman  and 
Callender — one  of  whom,  (the  new  ally  of  the  Hamil- 
tonian-daminion,)  is  my  name- fake,  although  he  is  nov 
blood-relation  ;  becaufe  he  himfelf  told  me,  that  he 
was  greatly  afflicted  with  a  weaknefs  of  the  nerves*  a 
cliforder  with  whkli  none  of  niy  family  of  the  Callen- 
ciers  have  ever  been  peftered.  As  an  inftance  of  thisy 
find  left  any  of  yours  or  the  Vice-Preiident's  friends 
and  gladiators,  fnould  imagine  that  I  was  any  way 
.baihful  about  naming  the  Revenue  office?  whom  I 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON.  I£ 

iiave  hinted  at  in  my  firft  letter,  I  here  beg  leave  to 
refer  to  Mr.  Troup  who  brought  the  fuit  againft  him, 
and  if  he  fhould  hefitate  on  the  bufmefs,  I  can  ap- 

'peal  to  the  merchant,  who  will  fubftantiate  the  fact, 
and  who  told  me,  he  was  refolved  to  lay  the  ilatc  of 
his  cafe  before  the  Prefident  of  the  United  States.-*— 
You  may  perceive  that  I  go  upon  good  ground;  and 
it  muft  appear  evident  to  your  fuperior  intellect,  that 
although  there  may  be  one  man  in  America  who 
would  ufe_/kW-means  to  get  rid  of  a  rival,  I  dread 
him  not.  But,  with  refpe6t  to  you,  Sir,  I  declare, 
that,  fo  far  from  fufpecling  you  of  countenancing  fo 

.bafe  a  proceeding,  I  am  heartily  convinced  of  your 

Uriel  adherence  to  the  principles  of  a  foldier  and  a 

man?  and  that  you  would  deteft  any  wretch  that  would 

implicate  upon  himfelf  fuch  a  vile  fufpicion. 

I  think  it  necelfary  to  make  this  declaration  of  my 

-private  opinion  of  you  as  a  gentleman,  though  1  may 
widely  differ  with  you  in  general  politics.  From 
you,  I  am  confident,  I  am  perfectly  fecure,  with 
refpecl:  to  any  foul  mode  of  refentment;  but,  Sir,  I 
do  not  coniider  4LL  your  allies  in  the  fame  honora- 
ble point  of  of  view.  After  the  dark-handed  confpi- 
racy  of  a  certain  conceited  lawyer,  who,  to  get  rid 
of  an  opponent,  would  life  adventitious  means,  it  is 
high  time  for  the  genuine  friends  of  America  to  look 
ftiarp.  If  fuch  men  as  thefe  were  to  rule  the  roaft, 
we  fhould  foon  witnefs  the  death  of  the  liberties  and 
profpcrity  of  America.  The  literary  aflaffm  is,  un- 
a. great  pefi  to.  focictv;  but  the  favsges  w 


2O  LETTERS    TO 

undertake  to  bully  voters  at  times  of  election?  or,  in~ 
deed,  at  any  other  time,  fhould  be  marked?  and  I 
have  fo  minutely  watched  their  conduct  as  to  be  able 
to  develppe  mod  of  their  fecret  intrigues  for  the  at- 
tainment of  power.  The  bafe  and  cowardly  attacks 
made  upon  republican  printers  at  New-York?  Phila- 
delphia, and  other  parts  of  the  United  States,  will  not 
foon  be  forgotten.  The  circumftance  of  Duane's  be- 
ing held  faft  by  one  of  the  flrongeft  men  in  America* 
whilft  the  fon  of  a  confervator  of  our  laws  played  off 
the  valour  of  his  fifls  upon  his  face?  is  fuch  an  inftan,ce 
of  turpitude,  as,  I  hope?  I  fhall  never  hear  of*  an 
equal  to;  nor  fhall  I  eafily  forgive  Duane  for  not 
having  taken  an  exemplary  revenge.  It  is  true  he 
challenged  the  youth?  who  it  is  generally  allowed, 
modeftly  refufed  to  meet  him.  The  Democrats  may 
here  fuppofe  I  am  not  altogether  up  to  their  fyftems— - 
nor  am  I. — Neither  did  I  ever  confider  the  magistrate 
alluded  to,  nqr  his  fecretavy  Dallas?  nor  Ingerfpll* 
who  is  intended  for  the  next  governor?  as  true  repub- 
licans. I  could  here  give  my  reafonsj  but  I  leave  the 
decifion  to  fuch  men  as  have  been  in  habits  of 
intimacy  with  them.  In  the  fame  light  do  I  view  fome 
leading  characters  in  the  dates  of  New- York,  Jerfey> 
"&c.  Mr.  Bloomfjcld  is  no  republican — neither  art 
thou,  Mr.  Hamilton?  notwithstanding  your  oppofition 
to  the  Duke  of  Brain  tree's  chimerical  monarchy. 
You  will  here  naturally  obferve  that  I  am  not  amongft 
the  lift  of  timid  fcribblers — not  vevy  much  alarmed 
at  the  refentment  of  dilappointed  royalifts — or  the 
furious  thunder  bolts  of  brother  Jonathan.  For  if,, 
the  attack  me  in  front  I  will  endeavor  to  defend 


ALEXANDER     HAMILTON.  £f 

jnyfelf  as  well  as  I  can— and  if  they  take  me  in  tha 
jear — I  am  fure  it  will  not  be  with  your  confent. 

THE  fportfman-like  phrafe  of  Philaenus  at  the  on- 
fet  of  his  pamphlet  might  induce  fome  honeft  fellows 
of  the  chace  to  follow  him  through  the  foreft ;  but 
if  any  of  them  fhould  give  a  view-holla?  he  will 
not  come  up  within  a  mile  of  the  hunt-r-and  fo  far 
from  being  calculated  for  a  huntfman,  he  is  incapable 
of  performing  the  duty  of  a  whipper-inn  to  a  pack  of 
well  trained  harriers. 

ON  purchafing  the  pamphlet,  I  carelefsly  opened  it 
at  page  48,  and  on  reading  lines  5,  6,  7  and  8  could 
not  reilrain  a  laugh  at  mafler  Philaenus's  fagacious  re- 
marks on  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Jefferfon.  He  accufes  the 
Prcfident,  of  haying  eyprejTed  *'  his  contempt  for  their 
(the  members  of  the  late  ejection)  understandings,  by 
anfwering  their  reafcnable  and  refpe&ful  remonftrances 
with  a  pompous  difplay  of  logical  vonfenfe  and  angry  re- 
criminations."— Who  is  there  amongft  the  fons  of  thp 
monarchicaf-fe^'s  that  can  explain  to  us  the  meaning  of 
logical  ncnfenfe  ?  Stop  the  youth  from  writing,  as  foon 
as  poifible ;  othcrwife  he  will  put  an  extinguifher 
.over  the  dying  flames  of  ariftocracy.  It  i»'  really  wafting 
-time  to  look  over  this  poor  pamphlet.  Nor  would  any 
one  think  of  doing  it,  were  it  not  for  the  general  con-r 
vi&ion  that  Mr.  Hamilton  approved  of  its  publication. 
Sir,  why  will  you  not  fviffer  an  experiment  to  be  made 
5n  the  nr!»  of  fimplifying  government  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Mr.  JfefFerlbn  •  as  you  defircd  uhen  you  led  th« 
yan  under  the  adminifl-ration  of  the  great  and  good,  but 
much  impofcd  on  Wafhington,  with  your  complicated 
plans  ?-r-all  you  alked  froi?i  ili£  oppofiupn  then,  was  tf 


3®  LETTERS    TO 

give  them  a  fair  trial  ; — which  was  confented  to ;  and 
not  only  your  plans,  but  your  language  and  your  pen 
were  allowed  too  great  a  range  of  abfolute  licentioufnefs. 
Your  party  in  New-York  were  ready  not  only  to  fupport 
you  with  their  purfes  but  even  to  mob  any  man  in  the 
Directs  who  differed  in  opinion  with  themfelves  and  you. 

THE  refult  has  been,  as  I  have  already  faid,  in  con- 
formity with  my  text-»your  dominion  has  been  taken 
from  you  &c.  by  the  general  confcnt  and  will  of  the 
people  on  whom  you  calculated  to  enforce  your  fchemes 
:by  threaten  ings  and  hard  blows. 

The  various  fyftems  of  intrigue  carried  on,  by  your 
affociates;,  at  that  time,  are  frefh  in  my  recolle&ioiu 
The  attempt  made  by  a  private  citizen,  when  in  Eu- 
rope, at  the  time  of  the  debate  upo  n  your  funding 
.fyftem,  to  purchafe  the  whole  debt  which  the  United 
States  owed  to  France,  and  to  fell  this  contract  to  the 
•HoPES  of  Amsterdam,  who  were  to  furnifh  the  mo- 
ney, was  a  fubje6l  in  the  fcnate,  who  rejected  the  no- 
mination of  that  citizen,  by  the  Prefideiit,  to  the  place 
of  ambaiTador  to  France;  yet  he  was  afterwards  ap- 
pointed, through  the  intrigues  of  Robert  Morris, 
\vhofe  relation  to  him  was  no  more  than  being  con- 
cerned in  a  plan  for  felling  lands  in  the  m 00111  to  Eu- 
ropean fpeculators,  which,  when  properly  enquired 
for>  were  not  to  be  found.  Hence  the  depreciation 
of  the  American  charafter  in  Europe  originated,  and 
hence  the  fubfequent  reduction  of  the  financier-gen  eral 
•f  the  United  States,  to  the  humble  ftation  of  a  birth 
in  the  jail  of  Philadelphia.  If  he  had  only  confidered 
the  old  faying,  "  that  honefly  is  the  bed  poKcy."  He 
sever  would  {iave  contented  to  be  concerned  with  this 


ALEXANDER 

T)talHe  Boiteaux,  who  ruined  his  credit  and  confequenee 
in  Europe.     Perhaps  it  was  from  this  circumfta/ice  that 
John  Adams  took   up  the  idea  which  he  has   fo  patri-* 
Gtlcally  exprefled  in  the  bock  he  wrote  in  London,  yclept 
*'  A  Defence  of  the  American  Conftituti'oti"  wherein  he 
fays,  that  the  Americans  "  have  no  character."     Thank 
you  Mr.  Adams— you  were  then  probably  in  the  fame 
way  of  thinking    that  the  Diable  Boiteaux   eXprcffed 
lately  in  the  Senate  of  the   United  States  when  he  faid 
the  people  themfelves  were  their  own  worft  enemies  ? 
what  an  elegant  figure  in  rhetoric  was  this  to  Come  from 
the  lips  of  fuch  a  Cicero  ? — It  was  kind,  and  merciful* 
indeed,  when  bellowed  frcm  the  lungs  of  a  man  of  the 
mod  contracted  abilities  amongft  the  feds,  but  of  the 
moft  unlimited  effrontery.     His  Aarrd-earned  eftates,   or 
fine   houfe,  furniture,  and  equipage  have  not  any  effe£t 
upon  the  real  republicans  to  produce  refpe£l  for  his  per-* 
fon  or  his  merit — I  heartily  defpife  both,  and  fhould  pafs 
an  evening  with  more  genuine  comfort  in  company  with 
a  Poughkeepfie  farmer,  than  with  him  and  all  his  bought 
or  borrowed  lu/lre.      In  the  fame  eftimation,  do  I  hold 
Mr.  Bingham,  the  breeches-maker's  fon,  at  Philadel* 
phia.     The  trade,  I  hope,   will  not  take  offence  at  my 
clc fling  him  amongft  them.     There  are  many  brokers  in 
New-York,  &c.    who  ride  in  coaches,  but  who  would 
appear    more  in  chara&ef  if  they  were  to  parade  the 
flreets  in  buttermilk-carts,   or  at  the  arms  of  bakers* 
"wheel  barrows. 

The  vulgarity  of  fome  of  the  eaftern  members  of 
Congrefs*  is  only  to  be  equalled  by  their  inclination 
to  intrigue  and  low  cunning.  They  profejfed  the 


44  LETTERS    t(5 

ttioft  unlimited  obedience  to  your  proportions,  let 
them  be  ever  fo  extravagant;  yetwhenit  came  to  voting 
for  Prefident  of  the  U.  States,  &c.  although  you,  Sir? 
had  written  a  terrible  letter  againft  John  Adams?  as  a 
private  circular,  to  be  firlt  fent  to  the  ele6tors  to  in- 
fluence them  as  far  as  your  weight  would  carry  it,  and 
afterwards  it  was  again  published  by  Lang,  in  New- 
York,  &c.  The  whole  effeel  it  had  on  the  ele6tion, 
both  in  the  Eaflefn  and  Southern  ftates,  was — That 
your  letter  did  not  make  a  lirigle  profelyte — nor  did 
John  Adams  lofe  by  it  a  fingle  vote.  From  fuch 
experience  as  this?  it  is  but  fair  to  judge,  that  your' 
intereft  and  influence  could  effecl  nothing.  The 
calling  of  caucaulles,  therefore,  at  New-York,  of  the 
difconten'ted  few,  ought  not  to  be  corifidered?  as  any 
very  dangerous  combination  agairift  republicanimi — 
They,  undoubtedly?  were  for  an  ariftocracy.  Adams 
was  againft  them  a  little — he  was  for  a  monarchy  ; 
they  could  not  agree,  and  republicanifm  came  again 
out  of  the  fire  like  pure  gold. 

THE  particulars  of  thefe  caufes  and  effe&s  I  fhall 
explain  at  not  a  very  diftant  day, — nor  fhall  any  petty 
fcribbler  like  Fhilaenus  prevent  me.  't he  intolerable 
ufe  of  detraction  propagated  by  your  affdciates,  have 
brought  down  deflruction  on  themfelve's — you  fhewed 
them  an  example  in  the  phillipprc  you  pronounced, 
long  ago?  againfl  Wamington,  when  you  preferred 
Greene.  You  mewed  them  another  example,  in  the 
fame  complimentary  ftyle,  when  you  attempted  to 
ridicule  G©v.  Clinton,  in  the  letters  you  wrote  fcr  the 
Daily  Advertifer  in  the  years  1787 — 8S,  under  the  fig- 
Hature  of  H.  G.  The  firil  of  thofe  effays,  on  Waih- 


HAMILTON;  25 

ington,  was  no  more  than  barking  at  the  moon  :  and 
the  fcccnd,  agsinft  Clinton,  had  ho  be;t:r  iiTue,  altho-' 
you  put  up  Judge  Yates,  a  good  republican,  agaihft 
his  friend — So  it  has  been  \vith  you  throughout  your 
peregrinations  in  polities'.  They  would  have  fuccced- 
ed  better>hadthey  been  grafted  on  a  founder  ftcck — "/our 
{landing  army,  and  excife,  were  equally  ill-judged 
things.  They  might,  have  anfvvercd  for  the  next  cen- 
tury, if  our  posterity  ftickild  then  become  fuch  abjccl 
tools  to  felf-irnportant  architects  of  government  a$ 
you  and  Mr.  Adams.  But  Sir,  government  can,  and 
has  been  fimplifieda  as  I  have  already  faidi  and  we  find 
that  republicanism  may,  can,  arid  fhall,  be  eftablifhed. 
It  would  be  well  for  you  if  you  could  agree  with  me  in 
this  fentimcnt.  You  are  not  fo  much  tied  down  by 
your  promifes  to  aristocracy*  but  that  you  might  "make 
one  more  effort  to  regain  your  Nation  amongfl  re- 
publicans. This  may  appear  to  fome  as  a  fly  invita- 
'  tion  to  join  the  good" old  party  ;  but,  be  affurcd,  Sir> 
they  generally  think  they  can  do  very  well  without 
you. 

You  have  had  recourfe  to  a  vaft  quantity  of  pref*- 
Vorkj  and  printing-offices  in  your  time,  to  cany  your 
.points,  let  them  be  good  or  evil  ;  and  I  remem- 
ber when  you  were  confi-derccl  by  the  printers  of 
New-York  as  infpedror-general  of  every  tiling  they. 

{ho aid    bring   forth.     Adieu     to     fuch    days  ! *- 

You  mil  ft  now  ftand  on  your  own  bottom*  norv.-ill 
all  the  Thunderer  of  Jerfey  can  do,  forward  you  an 
inch  in  your  defigns*  I  know  not  of  any  circum- 
,  piazb  or  fcheme  of  yours,  that  has  been,  kv 


LETTERS    TO 

anywifc  likely  to  become  permanent.  Blarne  Xvh« 
who  you  will  for  this  defalcation,  I  can  fcareely 
imagine  that  it  was  altogether  the  child  of  your  ovn' 
brain  ;  let  me  rather  fuppofe  it  was  vanity,  like  that 
by  which  Mr.  Adams  was  a&uated.  You  had  bad  ad- 
viiers,  and  they  led  you  aftray, 

TOM  CALLENDER, 


LETTER  III. 

SIR, 

oOME  of  your  friends  may  pretend  to  fay,  it  is  un- 
generous to  attack  you  in  print,  as  you  arc  out  ot  of- 
fice, and  have  nothing  to  do  \\ith  the  preftnt  admini- 
ftration.  This  is  true  enough,  you  have  not  any  thing 
to  do  with  it  —  in  favour  of  it,  or  in  fupport  of  it  —  but 
you  have  fomerhing  to  do  in  tbe  Rye-houfe-plot-wcrk 
that  is  brewing  againfl  it;  which  will  crumble  to  dull, 
as  almoft  all  your  ether  political  plans'  have  done.—  - 
We  muft  and  will  have  a  quiet  and  peaceable  govern- 
ment- —  we  have  it  now,  and  we  will  keep  it  in  defphe 
of  all  the  Macbeth  witchcraft  of  the  fallen  angels.  Yo\i 
fee  I  go  freely  into  the  little  labour  of  examining  your 
CREAT  works.  The  Pilot-boatman  makes  irit  item 
of  what  you  have  to  anfwer  for.  Your  winking  at 
jnany  improprieties  committed  againft  the  people's 
peace,  as  well  as  their  pockets,  is  another  !  and  your 
Countenancing  the  publication  of  fuch  traili  as  Junius 
Philsenus  is  a  tliird,  with  many  ether  thirds*  hfihs,.  and 
tp-fili  up  ycur  concerto, 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON.  *7 

finefl'e  and  rfhratagents  which  were  praetlfed  on 
.Thomas  Paine  by  Robert  Morris  &c.  in  the  years 
378$,:- and  1786,  whilil.he  was  at  Philadelphia,  ar<? 
frefli  in  mj  recollection.  THEY  (the  enemies  of 
-American  commerce)  ruined  his  character  then,  with 
his  own  friends,  by  prevailing  on  him 'to  write  a  pam- 
phlet In-  favour  of  the  bank  of  North-America?  which 
cpmpofed  of  a  fet  of  traders,  .not  bankers.  They 
of  banking.  All  the  banks  in  Europe 
the  bank  o&England,  are  compofed  of  mer» 
hate  c  A  s  H -capital^  •  none  of  your  fcrips  will  tell 
£here,  bccaufe  the  banker  is  under:an  honorary  obli- 
gation not  to  interfere  in  any  fort -of  merchandize — • 
limits  himfelf  to  the  buying  and  felling  of. bullion- 
But,  in  America»  the  banking  gentry  are  all  traders 
jin  wet  and  dry  goods  j  and  when  they  want  to  fpe-r 
G.ulate  upon  a  purchafe  of  rum,  fugar,  or  Eafi  India 
OQckeryj  they  contrive  to  have  a  partner  who  fends 
Jiis  no,te  to  the  bank  to  be  difcountedj  in  order  to  pro- 
the  means  (o  make  that  very  purchafe;  Jiis 
friend  amongft  the  directors — his  partner !— will  cer- 
tainly endeavour  to  get  that  note  done,  in  preference 
to  a  better  note,  and  a  belter  man,  and  better  feciuity 
than  the  other.  Here  is  banking  indeed,  to. reject 
good  paper  and  take  in  bad! 

YOUR  Philaenus  attempts  to  give  us  a  balance-fhect 
of  the  ftate  of  American  affairs;  but  let  him,  if  he 
pan,  explain  to  us  tlie  propriety  of  the  above  fyilem  ! 
On  a  fimilar  plan  was  the  bank  of  the  United  States 
^'(labliilied : — It  was  pretended  that  it  was  to  fupporfe 
the  government — and  fo  it  was.  But  what  fort  of  a 
government?—- A  government  thafvr?.s  yet  to  b? 


13  LETTERS    Ttf 

raifecl  upon  the  ruins  of  the  prefent  conditution, Ac- 
cording   to   any   construction   the   Ariftor rats   migHit 
cheoie  to  put  upon  it;  and  all  this  was  to  ,be  effects- 
ed  by  force  of  arms,  and  banks,  and  intrigue.     Seve^t 
yal  unconftitutional  acts  were  forced  through  the  lo 
gUhiture,    by   fmall   influenced    majorities;    and   the 
rower 'of  the  country,  and  the  liberties  of  the  people'jl 
were   about   to   be   divided?    like   loaves   and    fifhes> 
am ongM  about  fifty  or.an  hunclred    aristocrats; — Va- 
rious orders  of  nobililty  were  to  be  inftalled;  and  6ft 
the  very  day  that  Mr.  A  clams  arrived  at  New-York  t6 
take  the  chair  of  Prefiuerit  of  the  Senate,   a  motioii 
was  made?  by  one  "of  his  particular  friends,  in  the  f<S* 
r. ite,   to   confer  TITLES  on   the  ciTkers  of  govern- 
ment, and  to  erect  two  or  three   RANKS   or  degrees' 
pf  the  members  of  the  legiilature,       Let  any  perfoa 
look  into  the  minutes  of  the  fe'nate,  then  kept  by  Mr.. 
Otis?  (with  the  afliftance  of  fome  of  the  fenators,  fqrj 
he  u-as  not  competent  himfelf  to  that  trifling-  taflcjj? 
and  it  will  bc;  difcovered,  that  the  fcnate  was  empley'-j 
e-.l,  for  the  greater  part  of  two  or  three  weeks,   at  th 
firil  organization  of  the  government,  on  that  Ilh 
ens  biifmefs,  and  which  was  fo  often   rejected  by 
houie   of    reprefentatives,    that    they    fairly    ihame'< 
the  fenate  out  of  it;  and. they,  inltead  of  ordering  th 
clifgracefpJ  tranfa615on  to  be  erased  from  their  books 
with  the  tenacity  of  a  child  to  its   hobby-horfe,  hav«i 
entered    on    their    minutes^    in    words   expreflive 
tlieir  forrow,  at  not  being  able  to  conform  themfelve 
to  the  cuftorns  of  Europe,  in  regard  to  titles  of  Nobi 
lity  •   but  that,  from  a  tied  re  of  keeping  up  a  friendl 
intuxourfe   with  the  Upule  of   repreienta.tive3j  the 


UJl^I  LTOtf.  &$ 

•*£<?  pt'fah  pflutpQ-no  ^e. further confident 
of  the  fubjecl.  Thus,  they  have :  npt  entkejy 
given  up  all  hopes  of  .reviving  it  at  fome  convenient 
uioinen!.  hereafter;  and,  thus  this  bantling  of  j\Ii> 
Adams's  brain  was  put  out  to  nurfo  !  I  wi/bk-tjjey 

JiaJ  torn  the  minutes  of  that  debate  from  their  books> 

•' 

and  fent  them  to  liraintree  with  him  on  the  morning 
he  ran  au  ay  fo  early  rrom  Waftiingtpn  rather  thaij 
.  bear  the  light  of  feeing  Mr.  jeflerion  fworn  into  of- 
:£cc.  I  mult  not  omit  r^enti^ni^gj  here,  that  it  is  rny  Ohpi-» 
jiion^  had  you  at  the  time,  of  the  ikisjlfhus.  debate,  giv-t 
en  it  }  our  hearty  and  iinpere:;(u^nort?  it  would  h^y? 
been  carried  through  both  houies  of  the  legiflaturei 
and  wp  il^ould  no\V  be  'j$fp&S$f<'i$k.  *  royal  aimsu- 
jiack  publiir.ecLahaiiaHy'.cbfrtzJuiiig  a. lengthy  lift  of 
honorable  Sedg-wicks,  iiglat  lionourablc  TliGtcheTj4 
rnoft  h-O'iiorable  Ames??  Sti&vty^inuftrious  Adamites. 
Your;  conducl  on  that  dccailibn,.  therefore  deferves 
tlie -friglieft  approbation,  whether  it  proceeded  from  a 
luke-warmneis  to  the  fcheme,  or  from  a  complete 
pan  tempt  of  the  effeminacy  of  fo  "ridiculous  a  projects. 
Indeed,  it  would  redound  fomtthing  further  to  your 
credit,  if  you  could  yet  prevail  with  fome  of  your 
friends  in  the  prefent  fcnate,  to.  move  for  the  erafure  of 
all  the  minutes  that  were  ioiiled  into  the  books  on 
that  fubjecl.  And  in  doing  this  you  would  only  be' 
acting  in  conformity  with  the  opinions  you  cxprefs-in 
your  letter  to  Mr.  Adams  fo  foon  after  the  difauffal- 
pf  tlie  army  at  Briftol.  You,  I  am  fur e  gained  no 
money  or  eftates  by  your  rank  or  pay,  but  HE  took 
care  to  feather  his  ncit  well  for  himielf  and  his  young: 
So  that  he  cq.uld  the  better  bear  your  attack,- 


LETTERS    TO 


It  would  make  a  good  caricature  to  ikctch  him  thus; 
.Sitting  fntigly,  in  a  warm  neft,  on  the  top  of  a  'large 
weeping-willow  at  Braintrce,  looking  down  at  your 
tieacllefs  body  as  it  approaches  from  Fort-Pit,  which 
migh't  be  represented  in  the  Hack  ground  all  in  flames—  7 
Your  head,  as  you  faid  yourfelf,  you  would  never 
bring  it  back  other  wife,  might  be  exhibited  as  follow-^ 
!tt£Jafter  you  like  a  balloon  in  the  air,  whilft  Mr. 
A'dams  fnould  appear  "in'a  Full  bag-wig  with  a  Tort  of 
glory  around  h'is  heady.ind  :vaft  clouds  in  a  thoufand 
fancied  '(hapes  and.formS  of'coronets,  fccptres,  thrones, 
kingdoms?  and  millions  of  ftar^V  and  garters.  On, 
kis'left  breaft  a  bulfe  of  diamond  with  the  order  of  the 
"wii  ITE  DUCK  in  the  eentfe  '-The  trtink  of  the  wik- 
Mow  fiiould  haye  icarltt-iibbond  twining  like  ivy  in  a 
fpiral  line  with  fcveral  :^lt  m  ottos  fuch  ,as,-*6  folk 
noli  lit  as  virtus-."  (<  A  oeo'ft.  Rege*  "  Malum  inert 
qitam  fcederare."  £?c.,  -And  let  a  large  o  w  L  appear 
jiigh  hovering  in  the  air,  in  the  a6l  of  balancing  a  f  raw. 
Thus  equipped  and  defended  we  leave  him  for  a  mor 
jnent  to  take  a  View  of  your  mode  of  todily  atr 
•tack  —  with  a  full  unifonn,  a  truncheon^in.one  hand, 
tind  your  LETTER  in  the  other,  you  mi:  ft  appear  in 
the  act  of  kicking  your  great  jack-boots  agninft  the 
roct  of  the  willow,  until  the  Pruifian  EmbaiTador, 
who  was  placed  there  by  way  of  cenitnd  —  feconds 
the  alarm,  and  calls  out  to  his  Pa,  quack  !  quack  ! 
quack  ! 

IT  may  offend  fome  to  fee  Mr.  Adams  thus  fatirik 
ed;  but  I  fubmit  to  the  world,  whether  his  conduit 
jp  running  away  in  the  manner  he  did  from  Wailiing* 
to,n  did  not  deferv&the  fcvereft  eenfu;e,  —  Did 


ALEXANDER    H  AM  T  LtO^T.  g£ 

ral  Wafhington  behave   in  this  manner  to  him  whe» 
he  was*  firft  fworn  into  office  at  Philadelphia. :  No^-he 
paid  him  all  the  refpecl  poinble  and  affumed  ro  other 
confequence  than  that  of  a  private  citizen,  and  fo  did 
Mr.  Jcfferfo-n,  they  both  walked  humbly  in  his  train, 
Mr.  Adams  came  down  from  the  Senate  chamber  firft, 
and  I  recollect  that  he,  feme  how,  negleclcd  to  fore- 
ihorten  his  fword  whilft  on  the  flairs,  fo  that  it  trailed 
on  the  fteps  and  made   a  noife  that  put  me  much  in 
tnirid  of  the  cat's  feet  to  which  a  wicked  boy  had  waxed 
walriut- fhells,  in  order  to  frighten  a  family  at  midnight 
with  fufpicions  of  a  ghofl.     I  alfo  recbllec-t  on  the  fame 
occafion  that  when  Mr.  Adams  entered  the  Houfe  of 
Reprefentatives  in  order  to  he  fworn,  Mr.  JefFerfon 
was  ftill  Secretary  of  State,   and  had  he  been  as  cere-' 
iRonious  as   the  illuflrious    fenators  wanted  to  b'e,  bd 
wouldj  as   feeond  officer  in  the  government,  have  im- 
mediately followed  the  President,  and  Gen.  Wafhing- 
ton  being  fenfible  of  the  propriety  thereof,  an'd  feelrng1 
himfelf  only   in  the  ftation  of  a  private  citizen?  with 
J-bat  dignified  fimplicity  and  modefty  that  have  ever 
characterized  him,  fell  back  on  one  fide   of  the  en^ 
trance^  and  bowing  to  Mr.   JefFerfon,  whilft  with  his 
•hand,  he  filently   fignified  to  him,   to  walk  in  before. 
But  Mr.  Jefferfon,  without  a  moment's  hefitationj  fell 
back  alfo  on  the  other  fide  of  the  door;  and  after  bow- 
ing to  the  general,  he  flood  up  firm  and  ere61.    It  was 
the  moft  interefting  fcene  of  elegant  contention  I  had 
ever  beheld,  but  laded  only  about  two  fecotids,  anJ 
the  general  was  obliged  to  enter  firfK     I  am  the  more 
particular  in  mentioning  this  circumftanc^  as  it  has 


JJ  Lfcf  f  ERS    TO 

been  falfely  propagated  and  publifhed,  that  Mr.  j;-f~ 
ferfen  was  not  an  admirer  of  the  general.  I  believe 
on  the  contrary  he  'was  the  greateft  bofom  friend  tha£ 
the  irifpired  Wafhington  had  in  the  world.  Let  his 
conduct  on  this  occafion  be  compared  to  Mr.  Adams's 
flight,  and  then  anfwer  me  whether  it  had  any  of  tha 

fymptoiris  of  Nobility. 
•  TOM  CALLENDER* 


LETTER  IV 

SlR> 

SlNCE  I  have  ventured  to  offer  my  humble 
in  defence  of  the  character  of  the  virtuous  Wafhing- 
ton,  againft  all  detractors,  it  here  occurs  to  my  memo- 
ry, the  villainous  publication  in  London   of  an  Effa/ 
by  that  loweft  of  all  rafcals^  Cobbettj  in  the  Anti-Jaco* 
bin  Review,  vol.  5,  pa?e  547,  which  none  of  the  Aid- 
de-camps  of  our  Commander  in  chief,  have  ever  yet 
taken  the  trouble  to  contradict  —  no,  nor  our  divines*' 
"W.ho  have  -been  fo  bufy  in  this  city  in   defending  tli£ 
fair  fame  of  Col.  Burr  —  nor  the  indolent  Abercrofmbj? 
at  Philadelphia  who  was  hand  and  glove  with  that  hiK 
fernal  enemy  to   all  decency.  '    I  fay,   Sir,  that  it  ap^ 
pears  to  me  on  reflection,   a  little   itrange,  that  yott- 
have  never  fleppeci  forward  to  draw  your  pen  in  th£ 
defence  of  your  old  commander.      It  is  ftill  mo'r4 
ftrange  that  fome'of  the  clerical  order  have  alfo  omit- 
ted to  do  it  ;    and  it  is  more  than    f(  pafllng  ftrangef 
'tis  pitiful/'  that  the  author  of  Serious  ConiiderationSr 
jliculd  find  leifure  fuilicient  from  his  holy  ftudies,  t« 


AEX  ANDER.   HAM  I  LTOtf.  33 

Write  a  pamphlet  of  abufive  language  againfl  Mr.  Jcf- 
ferfon,  who  is  a  better  chriftian  than  either  himfelf  or 
any  of  his  coadjutors  ;  and  yet  he  could  overlook 
the  villainous  flander  of  the  Britiih  fcoundreL  Cob- 
bet*  I  appeal  to  all  America,  whether  I  can  ufe  any 
expreflion  too  harfh  on  fuch  an  occafion  ?  I  will 
now  endeavour  to  wipe  off  the  ftain  which  that  ruffian 
has  attem  pted  to  caft  upon  the  memory  of  a  man* 
"  the  latchet  of  whofe  fho'es  he  was  not  worthy  to 
'<  unloofe." 

The  aid  which  was  adminiftered  to  Porcupine  in 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  will  be  an  everlafting 
difgrace  to  the  memories  of  thofe  who  fupported  him  ; 
whilit  the  glory  of  Wafhingtori  will  rife  higher  and 
higher  iri  the  eltimation  of  every  age  hereafter. 

In,  the  book  which  I  have  alluded  to,  an  attempt  is 
made  to  give  a  review  of  American  publications}  and 
On  the  front  of  the  lift  we  find  a  fmglc  article  con- 
taining a  criticifm  on  two  diftinc~t  and  feparate  fub- 
je£ts;  theone  of  which  is  the  eulogium  delivered  by  a 
gentleman  of  the  American  revolutionary  army  on 
the  character  of  Gen.  Washington. — The  other3  a 
prayer  of  a  clergyman  at  the  opening  of  an  innocent 
ceremony  of  refpe6t  to  departed  virtue>  which  hap- 
pened fhortly  after  the  account  of  that  great  man's 
death  had  reached  that  city. 

The  anti-jacobin  reviewer,  whofe  abilities  com  par-* 
ed  to  thofe  of  the  old  reviewers  is  like  charcoal  toi 
diamonds,  commences  his  criticifm  with  a  few  lines 
of  pirated  language*  and  afterwards  falls  into  his  ow*n 
low  and  pitiful  abufe.  The  firft  paragraph  is— •«  If 

ti 


34.  LETTERS    TO 

*  every  individual  were  an  infulated  being?  who  lived 

*  for  himfelf,   agreeably  to  the  new  fyflem  of  certain 
4  German  philofophifts,  no  detriment  to  fociety  could 
«  accrue  from  a   rigid  adherence  to  the  ancient  max- 
«'  im — De  mortuh  nil  rJJi  Ic-num.      But  fo  long  as  falu- 

*  tory  leffons  of  a  religious  and  political   nature  are 

<  to  be  deduced — fo  long  as  moral  inclinations  for  the 

<  ufe  and  benefit  of  fociety  are  to  be  derived  from  the 
«  conduct   and   characters  of  men,  who  have  made  a 

*  confpicuous  figure  on   the   theatre  of  life— fo  lon^ 
'  fhall  we  continue  to  reprehend  a  ftri&t'  obfervance  of 

<  fuch  a  maxim,   as  calculated  to  deprive  mankind  of 
«  the  advantages   of  example,  which  intereft  alike  the 
c  heart  and  the  unuerftanding,  and  eminently  contri- 
'  bute  to  promote  the  caufe  of  virtue.       The  nil  nijf 
c  verum  is  the  only  rule  worthy  of  attention)   in   the 

*  delineation  of  public  chara6ters." 

To"  this  paragraph  an  eafy  anfwct  occurs.— Truer 
it  will  offend  not  only  many  and  excellent  men?  but 
it  mufl  offend  every  excellent  man  to  know  that  any 
attempt  to  diminifh  the  refpe6t  that  is  juftly  due  to 
the  memory  of  Wafhington,  efpecially  when  it  is 
confidered  that  the  attempt  has  been  made  by  fuch  a 
"vile  mifcreant.  *c  Accuftomed  to  make  facrifices  to 
truth,"  as  he  fays  of  himfelf>  but  which  all  good  men 
will  indantly  under  (land  the  true  meaning  to  be>  ac- 
cujhmed  to  jacr'-fce  all  truth  and  decency ;  and  as  to  his 
not  yielding  to  the  tide  of  popular  prejudice — every 
feniible  man  knowsj  that  a  long  fcries  of  popular  opi- 
nion amounts  as  nearly  to  truth  as  any  theorem  in 
fluxions.  Sir  Ifaac  Newton  would  not?  were  he  liv- 
ing, deny  it?  although  this  cobwcb-bru frier  of  a  book- 
e  -has  the  fpitefulnefs  to  oppofe  it. 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON.  3^ 

THE  Americans  have  not  been  too  lavifh  of  their 
Commendations  on  their  hero — for  the  effufion  of  a  few 
individuals,  who  may  have  over-ftept  the  bounds  of  me- 
chanic language,  yet  had,  nevertheleft,  a  good  intention 
in  every  word  they  fpo-ke ;  and  although  they  may  have 
committed  fome  little  miftahes,  in  the  modus  in  rebus, 
frill  their  hearts,  at  the  time  they  were  fpecking,  were 
fortiter  in  re— -this  is  only  borrowing  the  wor*l?  of  one 
pf  the  greateft  Englifh  politicians. 

IN  the  firil  inftance,  we  find  that  the  philanthropy 
and  phijofophy  of  ancient  maxims  are  rejefted,  to 
make  way  for  the  nil  nifl  vernm,  "  in  order  to  promote 
the  caufe  of  virtual" — and,  in  the  fame  piece?  the  writ- 
er, afterwards,  condemns  the  epifcopal  derey,  for  hav- 
ing deviated  from  the  old  cjlablifted  orthodox  rules  and 
crders  of  the  ages  of  ignorance  and  fuperftition.  He 
pretends  to  a  knowledge  of  the  affairs  of  the  churches; 
we  mail  fee  prefenlly  how  well  informed  he  is  on  that 
fubjea  : 

^  THE  advantages  of  example  which  equally  inte-t 
reft  the  heart  and  the  underftanding,"  he  fays,  are 
refufed  to  him,  if  he  were  obliged  to  pay  refpecl:  to, 
the  old  maxim,  de  mcrtuis  nil  nifi  bonum ;  ergo,  he  leaps 
over  all  the  bounds  of  both  ancient  and  mtdern  decency 
and  truth  ,  and,  under  a  mafk  of  fearching  after  veraci- 
ty, he,  unequivocally,  attempts  to  hokl  up  the  charac^ 
ter  of  one  of  the  TRUEST  Men  that  ever  lived,  as  an 
example— for  what; — not  for  imitation  I  but  quite  the 
ary !  I  am  alhamed  to  follow  up  this  rafcaliy  infr- 


•$6  LETtERS    TC> 

^nation  an}7  further*  nor  would  I  have  ever  condefcenccil 
to  bring^  this  impotent  magazine  into  view,  were  it  nol 
I  know  many  individuals  in  America  who  take  a  fecret 
malicious  pleafure  in  fupporting  Jome  foreigners,  who 
ultimately  prove  to  be  their  deep-rcoted  enemies. 

IF  the  derpicable  author  of  the  Review  means  to  in- 
fmuate,  whieh  I  am  fure  he  does,  that  general  Wafliing- 
ton  has  not  contributed  to  the  caufe  of  virtue — then  all 
the  good  and  great  men  on  the  race  of  this  globe,  who 
have  admired  and  piaifed  the  virtue  of  our  Patriot  Chief, 
mull  be  very  ignorant,  indeed,  or  this  difgraceful  Bririfh 

Reviewer  mufl  be  fo  abominable  a ,  that  Milton's 

defer  iption  of  Satan  would  not  afford  colours  fufficiently 
black  to  paint  him  in. 

THERE  fhall  be  millions  of  millions  hereafter,  of  the 
BEST  and  BRAVEST  of  mankind,  to  fpeak  and  write 
m  the  moil  ardent  praife  of  WASHINGTON. 

II  j  3  fecond  paragraph  goes  thus :  <c  A  church  is,  af- 
f  furcd'yj'the  moft  improper  of  all  places  for  the  delivc- 
6  ry  of  a  prcfciTed  cukgium.  The  temple  of  Truth 
f  fliould  never  be  polluted  by  the  ftrains  of  adulation. 

*  And  flattery  more  grofs,  feidcm,  we  conceive,  efcaped 
ff  the  lips  of  man,  in  any  place  whatever.     (e  Who  mall 
*'  delineate  a  juil  portrait  of  that  character  which  was 
"  perfect  in  at!  its  relations-— vr  in  what  language  fhalj 
'*  the  ftory  of  that  life  be  to'd^  where  every  a&ion  was 
«  alc^e  all  prune  ?"     Again — "  the   god-like  Wafhirg- 
"  ton" — "  this   immaculate   man."      This  language  is 
4  really  impious,  and  what   kind  of  credit  can  be  given 

*  to  the  facls  flated  by  a  man  who  fo  far  forgets  himfel/ 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  ,%J 

^ 

$  as  to  ufe  it  ?     Our  objections,  however,  are  principally 
f  confined  to  the  ufe  of  thefe  unjuftifiable  terms.      The 

*  orator  has  not  imitated  fame  of   his  countrymen,  who, 
'  on  a  fimiiar  occaftcn,  dared  to  ftigmatize  this  country 

*  and  its  foyereign;  his  other  fins  are  not  fo  much  fin.$ 
'  cf  commiffion   as    fins  of    "  wijfioni"  he  has  oply 

*  (hewn  one  fide,   and  that  the  fair  fide  of  the  picture; 
f  though  indeed,  by  calling  his  hero  immaculate,  he  ce- 

*  nies  that   there  were  any  fpots  in  his  character.     Prer- 
f  fumptious  and  fooliih  man,  to  hold  up  a  c<  a  monfter  of 
'  perfection"  to  the  world,  and  to  call  on  its  inhabitants  to 

*  admire  and  worfhip  it !" 

Thus  far  has  this  impertinent  revlcv.-er  attempted  in 
his  fecond  paragraph,  and  thi!$  we  reply : 

IN  every  country,  a  church  is  the  moft  proper  plac£ 
for  delivering  a  funeral  difcourfe.  I  appeal  to  all  the 
world,  if  this  reviewer  doth  not  here  exprefe  a  felf-evi- 
proof  of  malice  propenfe  ?  buoyed  up,  as  he  was,  by  a 
vain  expectation  of  fupport  frorn  a  party  (heaven  be 
praifed,  there  is  no  party  no^  e^i/lir.g  in  any  country 
or  climate  who  does  not  renounce  and  defpife  him)  of 
earning  bread  by  the  mcft  dishonourable  of  all  niean- 
n.effes — the  fales  of  fcanda!-^-he  ftili  veEtures  farther,  and 
with  diabolical  effrontery,  'infinuates,  diat  the  temple  of 
Truth  had  been  polluted  by  the  flrains  of  adulation  and 
flattery ;  and  bgidly  aflcs,  what  kind  of  credit  is  to  b« 
given  to  the  orator  who  delivered  the  eulegium? 

THIS  is  indirectly  telling  the  gentleman  that  he  fpokf 
falihoods  within  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Truth; 
for,  all  the  little  attempts  that  follow  i'mi  affertion,  by- 
way of  qualifying  it,  will  neyer  alter  the  exprefs  mean- 
ing of  the  writer.  If  he  had  no,t  been  at  the  dii 


LETTERS    TO 

of  more  than  three  thoufand  miles  from  the  orator,  it  is 
highly  probable  that  gentleman  would  have  obliged   him 
to  modify  the  words,  by  argumentum  ad  rem\   at  leaf},  I 
believe  lo,  in  cafe  he  would  deicend  to  notice  the  calum- 
jiiator. 

BUT,  this  creature  (he^'s,  in  almoft  every  inffonce,  a 
complete  i-inorance  of  men  and  things  in  America; 
for  here  he  fays,  "  The  crator  has  not  imitated  feme 
of  his  countrymen,  who  dared  to  ffcigmatixe  this  country 
(England)  and  its  fovereig.n."  Here  an  abfolute  lie  is 
broached,  If  he  means  that  the  orator  was  an  Ameri- 
can, he  is  entirely  wrong :  that  gentleman  was  a  native 
ef  Great  Britain,  and,  it  is  preiumed,  had  no  cccafion 
to  be  propped  up  by  the  faint  apologies  ot  any  foreign 
emiflary,  for  fuch  is  the  meaning  of  the  paflVge,  "  his 
other  fms  are  not  fp  much  the  fins  of  commiflion  as  hns 
of  omiflion." 

As  TO  the  bullying"  words,  **  dared  to  fti^matize  this 
Country  and  its  fovereign,"  fuch  language  might  hove 
pafled  in  the  camp  at  Saratoga,  before  the  capitulation 
of  the  brilliant  nil  nift  bonum  general  j  but,  at  this  day, 
a  threat  like  this,  can  only  ferve  to  excite  rifibilty  in 
every  man's  countenance,  whofe  mufcles  have  not  left 
the  power  of  fmiling. 

THE  orator  held  up  the  fair  fide  of  the  pi&ure,  be- 
caufe  tjvere  was  no  foul  fide  to  be.fhewn.  Yet,  an  m- 
famous  fcavenger  of  literature  mail  attempt  to  twill  this 
picture  into  a  monfler  of  perfection. 

The  third  divifion  of  the  reviewer's  iniquitous  publi- 
cation is  as  follows: — ««  We  are  well  aware  that,  by  at- 
?  tempting  to  diminifh  the  refpecl  which  has  been  fo  la-- 
*  yiil)ly  bcilcwed  on  the  memory  of  Wafliingtcn,  f^wc 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON. 

*  &all  give  ferious  offence  to  many  excellent   and 

*  thy   mon.      But,  we  are  accuftcmed  to   make  Tacrifi-* 

*  ces  to  truth,  and  we  do  not  feel  difpofed  in  the  prefent 
* -inftance,  to  yield  to  the  tide  of  popular  prejudice,  ami 

*  ilirink  from  the  dJfcharge  of  a  public  duty.       Let  the 

*  Americans,    if  they   think   proper,    lavifh  their  com- 
'  mcndations  on  their  hero,  for  eftablifhing  their  biefied 
\ republic — with  that  we  have  nothing   to   do;  but,  for 
'  ourfelves,  feeling  asEnglimmcn,  and  as  loyal  fubjefts, 

*  we  never    can    contemplate    the   public   character   of 
'  Washington,  without  feeing,  as  its  prominent  feature, 
'  the  horrid  crime   of  rebellion,   which  nothing  but  re- 

*  pen-lance  can  ever  efface.       It  is  not  fuccefs  which  di- 

*  minifhes  the  guilt  of  a  criminal.     To   America,  then, 

*  Waftung ton    might    be    a    hero;  to  Britain    he  was  a 
'  TRA  I  TOR.     Nor   is  this  the  only  proteil  we  have  to 
'  enter  agcinft  the  spotlefs  -purity  of  this"  immaculate," 
'  this  ««  God-like"  man.     If  we   have   not  been   very. 

*  much  mifinforn-ed,  general  WASHINGTON   was   a 

*  deift.     We  have   not   forgotten    his   reception    of  the 

*  (U^  fent  him  by  ROBES p  i  ER  RE,  nor  his  declaration, 
f  at  the   fame   time,   that   he  "  approved  of  the  French 
tf  revolution  in  its  commencement,   its  progrefs  and  its  re- 

*  fuh"     As  to  his  difmtereftednefs,  of  which  fo   much 

*  has  been  faid,  formerly  by    Thomas  Paine,  and   lately 
'by  other  fycophants    in   Ameri^^;  who  have  carried 
<  their  impudence   fo  far  as  to  aflert   that  he  never  even 
0  accepted  a  j alary  ;  we  have  it  in  our  power  to  accufe 

*  thofe  gentlemen  of  advancing  willful  falfehoods.     Ge- 

*  neral  Wafhington  not  only  took  care  .to  receive  hrsjfata- 
'  ry  regularly,  (for  which  certainly   no  blame  could  at- 

*  tach  to  him)   bnt  even  toadied  a  great  portion  cf  the 


4O  LETTERS    TO 

*  falary  of  the  enfiring  year?  by   which  means  he 

<  an   opportunity  of  fpeculating  with  the  public  mo- 

<  ney.     This  fa£t,  we  know,  was  the  f abject  of  pub- 

<  lie  controverfy  in  America,  and  the  proofs  of  its  ex- 
« iftence  were  never  invalidated  !' 

€c  Angels  and  minifters  of  grace  defend  us" — from 
such  a  bare-faced  villain  as  this — He  calls  Wafhington 
a  DEIST?  and  a  SPECULATOR  with  the  public  mo- 
ney ? — Where  !  O  where  !  wert  tlidu  then,  Camil- 
las, Phocius?  Publius,  General,  Royal-Fed  ? — Where 
wert  thou  Serious  Confideration — Trumpeter — Voice 
of  Warning  ? — All  afleep.  Wafhington  was  in  the 
cold  tomb — had  he  been  living,  your  ten  thoufarid 
pens  would  have  leapt  out  of  ten  thoufand  wings  in 
his  defence — but  he  was  dead;  and  you  could  no 
longer  expert  promotions  from  him. — Ye  all  began 
to  worfhip  the  rifing-sun,  John  Adams,  of  whom 
you  expected  to  make  a  very  tool  for  your  own  pur- 

j>ofes. 

THE   honor   and   pleafure   of  confuting  the  vil- 

iain>  devolves  to  me,  and  I  wrote  fomething  fimilar 
to  this, which  I  fent  to  London  nearly  two  years  ago, 
where  it  had  fome  effecl:  in  railing  up  the  refentment 
of  the  citizens  at  the  time  Gobbet's  ho'ufe  was  de- 
molifhed. 

I  NOW  affert — tha*  Wafhington  was  ai  pure  chriflianV 
and  it  is  well  known  to  every  perfoh  who  ever  knew 
him?  that  he  was  a  liberal  refpe<5ter  of  every  religion, 
without  being  a  perfecuton  I  next  affirm  that  he 
never  fpeculated  with  the  public  money  to  the  a- 
Siount  of  a  lingle  cent*  or  a  thoufand,  or  a  million  of 


HAMILTON.  4! 

tents?  dollars  or  pounds.  I  laftly  declare  tliat  the 
charge  made  by  the  Britifh  brute,  of  his  having 
:ched  his  falary  in  advance,  is  as  abominable  a  lie* 
us  if  any  wretch  were  to  affert  that  there  is  no  God. 
The  only  foundation  which  Cobbett  had  for  the  ma- 
licious uiliehood,  proceeded  from  a  very  ill-judgrd 
paragraph  in  the  Aurora,  whilft  that  paper  was  con- 
ducted by  B.  F.  Bachc,  who  was  unfortunately  influ- 
enced by  his  father,  who  had  a  private  pique  aeainft 
Wafhington,  to  publifli  it.  Every  one  knows  that 
there  is  a  law  exifting  which  allows  the  Prcfident  of* 
the  United  States  to  receive  a  falary  of  twenty-five 
tfioufand  dollars  per  annum.  The  Prcfident's  private 
fecretary  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  up  this  falary,  ei- 
ther monthly  or  quarterly?  and  he  was  regular  in  the 
duties  of  his  office.  It  happened  however  that  there 
'  was  a  trifling  informality  in  the  report  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  treafury,  Wolcott,  who  ought  to  particu- 
larize the  items  of  the  appropriations  for  the  year. — 
He  conceived  that  the  law  for  paying  the  Prefident's 
falary  was  fufficient,  and  he  forgot  to  mention  it  in 
his  report  to  the  committee  of  ways  and  means. — 
Thus,  although  the  law  exiiled  fo*  paying  the  Prefi- 
dent's falary,  there  was  not  any  fpecific  appropriation. 
Some  imp  of  darkncfs  communicated  th:3  to  old 
Bach?,  who  influenced  his  fon,  the  proprietor  of  the 
Aurora,  to  give  it  publicity,  and  to  make  it  appear 
that  Gen,  Washington  was  ro»  ci  •- Ing  pay.  in  advance. 
The  Br'.tiih  villain  inconsiderately  grabbed  at  t',e  niif- 
ta'ie,  an,l  has  dared  to  pablifli  it  to  the  world  In  th- 
paragraph  in  the  Anti-Jacobia  R"v' 
F 


4-2"  SETTERS-  TO' 

THE  truth  mult  now  clearly  appear  to  ever/  mart 
of  common  intellect,  that  neither  Gen.  Wafhington> 
nor.his  fecretary,  knew  any  thing  about  Wolcott's* 
blunder;  the  fecretary.  went  on  in  liis  ufual  mode — 
the  law  was  his  authority — but  with  regard  to  the  tak~  . 
ing  up  a  (ingle  iixpence  in  advance — there  can  be  no 
greater  falfehood  uttered,  Gen.  Wafhington  was  ne- 
ver in  want  of  money  for  himfelf,  neither  did  he  ever 
take  up  any  from  the  public  coffers  but  for  the  befl 
and  nobleft  purpofes.  To  follow  the  ilanderer  any- 
farther,  would  be  fuperiluous — and  I  really  believe,, 
that  although  our  fanctified  gentlemen  in  America 
fuffered  Cobbet  to  print  that  anti-jacobin  review, 
and  fubfcribed  for  it,  the  citizens  of  London,  when 
they  fee  this  ftatement,  will  not  hefitate  to  pull  down 
the  fellow's  houfe  again  about  his  ears. 

BUT,   it  is  too  much  the  practice  with  partial  po- 
liticians to  read  thoie  kind   of  fcurrilous  pamphlets, 
— They  fell  the  better  for  being  deteftable,   ?.nd  fo  it' 
was  with  Wood,  Calender,    Phikenus,    and   all   the 
reft  of  the  gang  of  detractors,    who  have  played  into" 
each  other's  hands  too  long?  to  the  great  difgraceof  the 
printing  art,   as  well  as  the  annoyance   of  the  pub- 
lic.    To  follow  CcKbet  through  the  whole  of  the  re- 
view,  would  be  too  tedious  for  ibme  of  our  readers  •„, 
I  will,  therefore,  felect  fuel)  paragraphs  as  fcem  to  be 
particularly  levelled  at  the  character  and  memory  of 
general  W  A  s  H  i  N  c  T  o  N.        His   feventli    phillippic- 
proceeds  thus :    ^ 

<<  Whilit  the  congrefs  was  employed  in  paffing  their 
«' mournful  resolutions,  and  their  funeral  admonitions- 
*'t®-t!ic  pious-  inhabitams  of  the  United  States*  thc;^ 


ALEXANDER     HAMILTON.  'jfe 

«  were  laughing   in   their  fleeves  at  the  dupes  winch 

<  they  had  made,  and  the   impofitions  which  they  had 

*  paffed  on  the  world.      The  fact   is,  that,   notwith- 

f  (landing  the  diffentions  which  prevail   among  the 

«  contending  parties  of  enlightened  (tatesmen,   in  ont 

-f  wljh  they    are   unanimous — to  D  E  c  K  i  v  E  foreigners 

-<  and  foreign  nations.     But  the  attempt  is  as  fruitlefe 

*  as   the  wiili   is    difhonourable.        In    this    general 

*  mourning,   prescribed  by   patriotic  hyrocrify,   and 
•-*  enforced    by    popular    authority,   it    is   r-       u  un- 
**  common     thing    to     fee     members     with      crape 
•*  on  their     arms,    and,   at  the    Tame   time,    :to    hear 
•'  them    vent    inal editions    on   the     memory    of  ;the 

<  deceafed  ! One    other    fact,  on    the   authenticity 

*  of  which  they  may  fully  rely*   will   fufiicc  to  (hew 
*<  our  readers  what   fort  of   freedom   of  thought  and 
>«.a'51ion   the  Americans   are  allowed   to   enjoy,  -and 
•*  what  fincerity'  of   foul  is  concealed  under  the  outer 
<f  trappings    of  woe.        A  -gentleman     having    beca 

<  afked  wliy  he  did1  not  wear    crape  on 'his   arm?  an- 

*  fwered?  that,  he  thanked  God,   he   had  loft  neither. 
^relation  nor  friend.     "What!"   exclaimed  tlie  a  ue- 

-c  rift,  "  wTas  not  general  Wafiiington  your  friend  ?" 
•-«  No,"  rejoined  the  other,  «  he  w.as  no  man's  friend.; 
••*  and  it  Vv'ould  have  been  a  good  -thine;  liad  he  di?(i 
-*  twenty  years  ago."  Thijj  blunt  declaration 
f  immediately  fucceeded  by  a  threat  of  veng<:a;''i';c 
•(  from  the  querist.;  and  it  wa^  v.  Itii  great  dl-ii:u'ty 
*f  that  the  gentleman  efcapcd  tlie  yankee  puDilhrrieat 

*  of  tar  and  featkf)')    and  -that   his  houfe  was  refcued 

*  from.  dcHructiorij   by  his  confcnt  to  zttfat-  a 


44  LETTERS    TO 

<  and  to  afk  pardon   ftanding  publickly  on  a  table  f 
«  In  relating  this  fact,   \ve   mult   not  be  fuppofed  tq 
f  acquiefce   in  the  unqualified  aiTertion,  that  general 
«  Wafhington   was   the  friend  of   no   man ;  we   ar§ 

<  not  Sufficiently   acquainted  with   the  general's   pri- 
c  yate   character   to  vpuch  for  the  validity  of  fo  Seri7 

<  ousa  charge  ;  and  we  are  extremely  unwilling  to  be- 
*  lieve,    that   a   man   who   has  been  fo  highly  and  fo 
c  warmly  praifed?    in   different  countries*   though   WQ 

<  know  how  £o  appreciate  fuel:  praife,  could  really  de- 

<  ferve  an  accusation*  which  implies  a  difpofition  wcj 
f  fhotild  fliudder  to  contemplate." 

The  circumftance,  or  fomethirtg  flmilar  did  take 
place  in  lle.v-Yorl:  •  but  the  gentleman  alluded  to* 
in  n:y  cpinlon>  ouglit  not  to  be  much  obliged  to  the 
reviewer,  for  trumping  ic  up  to  the  world  again,  after 
it  had  been  nearly  buried  in  oblivion.  I  will  not? 
therefore?  take  any  further  notice  of  it,  to  hurt 
the  feelings  of  a  perfon  for  whom  I  have  a  high 
refpeet,  only  to  make  a  remark  on  the  reviewer's 
malicious  concluf.ons. 

IN  the  beginning  of  the  foregoing  paragraph,  he 
endeavours  to  call  a  general  ftain  upon  all  America 
—he  ridicules  both  our  civil  and  religious  Societies, 
and  condemns  our  .laws  almoil  in  tuto.  Whatever 
re '"peel  he  may  be  thought  entitled  to  from  the  gen- 
tlemen of  the  bar,  on  thefe  points,  they  are  beft 
able  to  judge  of  theiTifelvcs.  .  One  thing  muft  be 
allowed  to  them,  a:ul,  I  believe,  much  to  their  ho- 
nor— tJKit  they  have  fouled  laws  Sufficient  to  puniSK 
iilaiics  and  ilanderers,  why  may  have  been  em- 


ALEXANDER     HAMILTON. 

Cloyed  by  foreign  nations  for  bad  purpofes 

us  ;   and  in  ionic  cafes  ihey  have  obliged  the   mlfcrer 

ants  to  fly  froin  our  fhores. 

As  to  the  attack  upon  our  religious  orders,  it  ap- 
pears ftrange  that  fome  of  them,  have  hitherto  ne- 
glected to  reply  to  the  calumnies  of  this  fame  fo- 
reign reviewer.  It  will  be  but  a  poor  reafon  in  them 
to  alledge,  that  "  he  is  fuch  a  fcoundrel?  he  is  not 
worth  their  notice — neither  himfelf  nor  his  writings." 

AND,  is  this  all  ye  will  fay,  ye  reverend  friend* 
and  daily  affociates  of  your  once  favorite  and  de- 
lightful Peter  Porcupine  !  Why>  I  could  make  a 
much  belter  excufe  for  you  myfelf ;  but  I  will  not 
at  prefcnt  draw  up  the  curtain?  behind  which  you 
have?  In  fo  cowardly  a  manner?  hid  your  plotting 
heads.  It  is  only  to  you?  the  Skulkers,  I  allude; 
and,  God  be  praifed?  ye  are  but  a  fmall  number* 
compared  with  the  thousands  of  open,  undefigning» 
honeft  menj  of  every  church. 

THE  elegant  cornparifon  of  «  mild  andjlale"  when 
fpeaking  of  the  proceedings  of  the  epifcopal  clergy 
at  their  convention?  held  fome  time  ago?  at  Philadel- 
phia? is  amongft  the  number  of  the  compliments  paid 
to  them,  and  is  thus  as  elerantly  compared  to  re- 
tailers of  porter  mixing  mild  with  flak  beer; — and, 
laftly?  this  mixture  of  the  CLERGY  with  the  LA  r- 
TY,  is  faid  to  be  like  fC  plowing  w'th  the  Ox  and 
the  Af  together.'!  >  See  here?  reverend  gentlemen* 
how  this  old  acquaintance  of  feme  of  ye?  makes 
Oxen  of  you,  and  Affes  of  the  laity  !  And  hive  you 
tamely  fubmitted  to  all  this  fcurrillity  \  Jf  yonr- 


LETTERS    Td 

^Compatriot  was  here  (I  mean  the  compatriots  of  half 
a  dozen,  or  a  few  more,  clergymen,  whom  I  know 
well;  but>  from  pure  charity?  will  here  omit  perfoni- 
fying),  it  is  highly  probable  that  ye  would  expofc 
one  another,  as  has  been  the  cafe  lately  between 
men  of  much  higher  notoriety  in  this  country,  who 
have  commenced  a  clumfy  and  awkward  war  agaihil 
Cach  other.  Adieu?  ye  reverend  few  ;N  cover  your 
faces  with  your  gowns,  left  the  true  and  faithful 
ehriftians  fhould  be  further  provoked  to  fhew  the  hy- 
pocrify  of  your  hearts. 

AFTER  having  taken  the  foregoing  view  of  the 
jRanders  propagated  by  this  Britijh  enemy,  (for  he  is 
more  their  enemy  than  he  has  in  his  power  to  be 
curs]  it  is  time  io^n?j7i  him  with  fome  general  ob- 
fcrvations. 

WITH  his  private  or  perfonal  character?  whether 
as  a  foldier,  a  fpy,  an  impoftor,  or  an  incendiary, 
I  have  nothing  to  do ;  although  he  has,  during  his 
fhort  refidence  in  America?  been  encouraged  by  fome 
friendly  people  to  invade  and  abufe  the  moft  facred 
and  domeftic  concerns  of  churches?  houfes?  camps, 
country?  male,  fem?.le?  old?  and  young,  without 
mercy  or  difiinclion.  Shame  on  thofe  who  fupport- 
ed  him;  but,  fome  of  them  have  been  fmce  laid  low. 
For  the  living,  as  well  a,s  the  dead,  a  refpect  to- 
wards their  children's  future  profperity?  forbids  my 
enumerating  their  names?  although  I  know  them  as 
well  as  I  know  the  little  corroiive  fublimate  of 
PARSONS?  who  will  hereafter  be  defpifed  by  their 
brethren;  and,  indeed,  in  Philadelphia  they  are  all 


HAMILTON.  4jf 

known?  and  their  views  as  clearly  intelligible  to 
Americans*  as  the  writing  on  the  wall  was  under- 
ftood  by  Beltefhazzar's  interpreter. 

THE  whole  drift  of  the   performance  in  queftion> 
it  is  evident,   as   I  have  already  faid,   is,   to  vent  the 
fpleen  of  an   individual^  who  values  himfelf  on  the 
honor   of  having   been  born   in  England,  but  whofe 
condu6l  has  been  a  difgrftce  to  tlxe   name   of   a  Bri- 
ton !     Who   is   the  Briton   that  dare  fhew  his  face  in 
any  company  of  honourable   men,   in   any  country, 
and   utter   the  words   which   this  itinerant  vagabond 
has  found  means  to  get   publifhed  ?     Shame  on   the 
beggarly  printer's  poverty  of  foul,  who  would  profti- 
tute  his  types  to  fuch  a  vile   purpofc.     He   muil  be 
very  poor,  indeed — ftarving  for   bread — to  fell   fuch 
poifon  to   procure   it ; — better  he  had  been   fent  to 
Botany-Bay,  there  to  live  upon  the  mandrake-plant, 
than  bafely  thus  to  procure  a  fultenance  in  London, 
by  liming  forth  fuch  villainous  falfehoods,  that  there 
is  not  a  child  of  MX   years   old  from  Japan  to  Cali- 
fornia, or  from    Bainn's  Bay   to  New  Zealand>  but 
would  fay>  "you  have  deceived  us>   and  we  cannot 
but  defpife  you." 

BUT,  in  order  to  fill  up  the  meafure  of  his  ini-^ 
quity,  he  contradicls  the  very  accounts  publifhed 
#11  over  the  world,  defcriptive  of  the  moft  fmcere 
and  profound  farrow  which  was  every  wh£re  ex- 
prcffed  on  this  truly  melancholy  occafion,  and  in 
thofe  holy  fanolorums  wherever  the  funeral  eulo- 
giums  were  delivered;  nay,  he  denies  that  the 
f  Le  fhed  tears ;  Tliefe  are  his  words — 


)0  LETTERS    TO 

"  Now,  we  have  good  authority  for  faying*  that, 
«  in  Philadelphia,  where  this  prayer  was  delivered* 
'  not  a  wet  eye  was  to*  be  Teen  on  the  occasion; 

<  The  three  hymns  at  the  concluiion   of  the  piayer, 

<  are   miferable   imitations  of   Sternhold   and   Hop-- 
«  kins." 

IN  anfwer  to  this,  I  need  only  refer  to  yourfelf, 
Mr.  Hamilton,  who  I  favr,  on  that  day,  fhedding- 
tears.  I  rhuft  alfo  refer  to  Mr.  JefFerfon?  who?  like- 
wife,  fhcd  tears  plentifully,  as  did  hundreds  of  other 
gentlemen  arid  ladies  who  were  prefcnt,  and  thou- 
fands  of  fpe6tators  who  cro'-vded  the  ftrcets  to  fee 
the  proccfTion. 

BUT,  the  reviewer  follows  the  immortal  Hero 
of  our  Country  even  into  the  filent  tomb,  with  all 
the  ftudied  rancour,  falfehood,  and  treachery  of  an 
imp  of  hell.  And  yet,  it  is  reported,  that  there  are 
feveral  hundred  fubfcribers  to  that  book  in  this 
country.  In  America  3  forbid  it,  Patriotifm — for- 
bid it,  Gratitude — forbid  it,  Virtue.  Oh,  Beatb* 
where  is  thy  fling  ? — O,  Grave,  where  is  thy  viclo- 
jy  p.  .  That  thofe  fubfcribers  may  reflect  more 
wifely,  and  withdraw  their  fupport  from  this  fo-' 
reign  reviler  of  our  country,  ourfelves,  and  our 
laws,  ought  to  be  the  fmcere  wifh  of  every  good  and 
tirtuous  citizen. 

TOM    C  ALLEN  PER* 


HAMILTON. 

LETTER  V. 


HAVING,  in  nly  laft  letter,  I  prefurne,  w-ped  cffall 
the  ft*  ins  that  the  Britiih  critic  had  attempted  to  cuft 
upon  the  character  of  general  WASHINGTON,  I 
fhall  next  perform  the  fame  office  of  refpect  to  the  cha- 
racter cf  Mr.  JEFFERSON,  which  has  been  as  wick- 
edly attacked  her£  by  another  Porcupine,  under  the 
modeft  fignature  of  Juriius  Philaenus,  and,  as  I  appre- 
hend, Sir,  under  your  patronage.  It  will,  alfo,  be  a 
part  of  my  talk,  to  lay  fomething  in  defence  of  old  go-«- 
vernor  Clinton,  2nd  iome  other  geritlcmeh  who  hav& 
been  fo  bafely  traduced  in  yoiir  favorite  News-papers. — 
The  affectionate  efteem  which  general  Wufhington  al- 
ways expreflfed  toward  governor  Clinton,  is  well  knowii 
to  the  world— and  even  in  his  lail  will,  the  name  of  that 
gentleman  is  mentioned  iri  a  particularly  refpectful  mari- 
ner. This  is  fufficient  to  give  the  lie  direct  to  any  of 
your  fcribblers,  who  have  faid  that  governor  Clinton  was 
inimical  to  the  general— and,  I  am  certain,  I  may  fo- 
lemnly  aflert  the  fame  in  regard  to  the  friendfnip  which 
exifts  between  Mr.  Jefferfon  and  the  governor: 

THEY  have  always  been  true  friends,  nor  can  any 
deep-laid  pl6t  or  fehifin  divide  them.  The  pamphleteers 
and  paragraph  writers'  cannot  be  eonfidered,  by  men  of 
fenfe  and  probity,  as  of  the  leaft  canfequencs.  The  far- 
tuers  o?  North  America  muft  know  that  they  are .  novf 
more  happy,  comfortable  and  fecure,  than  they  were 
lander  tfce-  la'st  administration,  bscaufe  they  have  not  t'd 

a 


«p  LETTERS    TO- 

pay   ten  dollars   per'  year,  or  forne  inch   ta/r,  for  riding  ; 
out    in  their  own    chair« — No    window-lax,  which  was  | 
contemplated,  will  vex  their  feelings — (lamps  will  not  in- 
terrupt the  negcciations  between  man  and  man — excifes 
a-re  gone  to  the  dogs — £rc.  &c.     Thefe    are    arguments 
fe  ftrong  that  the  moft  red-hot  Fed,  will    fcarcely  have 
efFrontory  fufficient  to  deny  them  ;  neither  will  the  pifot- 
boat  fpeculator,  or  any  of  the  imported  citizens  of  Ame- 
rica, after  the  war  was  over,  •'  and  nothing  in  our  mind 
but  joy."     That  man   was   no   citizen  of  the   United 
States,  although  he  was  permitted  to  take   a  feat  in  con- 
grefs,  and  afterwards  to  partake   of  the  mod  honorahle 
and  .lucrative  ciTic.s.     He  benentted  himfelf  by  his  know,- 
Icdge  of  what  was  going  on,  and  what  was?  expected  t.p 
end  in  favor  of  the  intricate  Britim  fyftem  of  finance,  fet 
up   by  you,  a  la    mode  de  mwfieur   Pitt,  but  which    has 
turned  out  to  be  not  fo   bad  as  you  intended  it — an  ever 
Lifting  burthen- — a  mill-done  hung  around  the  necks  of 
the  people  to  brinsr  them  into  fubje&ion,  and,  then?  in 
cafe  that  plan  failed,  you  were  to  have  a  (landing  army 
to  reduce  them   into  obedience — Bravo  !   Surely  it  was 
then  a  good  time  to  wreil  the  power  from  fuch  hands. — 
It   would  be    needlefs  to  fay   anv  more  of  that  deep  and 
deadly  policy.     The  prefent  adminiftratien  have,  with  a 
made  -ly  hand,  retrieved  us  out  of  thofe  defperate  dilem- 
mas  into'  which  we  were  Itkdy    to  be  funk  for  ever. — 
Your  pd'cyv-^as  not  onlv  wrong  in  theory ,  but  has  been 
vworfe    in  ^practice  ;  allowing  your  heart  to  have  had  no 
fhare  in   it.     Reduced  as  you  are  to  fuch   a  (kuation  as 
th:s when  your  friends  as  well  as  your  adverfariesin  po- 
litics (for  I  cannot  fuppofe  you  have  any  perfonal  enemies) 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON.  X<3 

ave  all  agreed  upon  one  conclufion,  that  you  aie  a 
mistaken  politician,  with  all  your  great  and  undeniable 
abilities.  Then,  when  you  End  this  to  be  the  cafe,  why 
npt  permit  us  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  our  prefent  rniM 

• 

{though  nationally  honorable  and '  firm)  adminiftra- 
tion  ?  why  not  allow  us  to  give  to  it  the  fame  chance 
of  experiment  that  you  required  for  yours/'  THE 
PEOPLE  are  fatisfied  with  the  prefent  administration.!, 
would  you  and  your  fatellites  permit  us  t^  be  happy 
ami  comfortable. 

COLE-MAN^  whom  I  know  not  whether  he  is  a  white 
or  black-/72<2/z,  is  not  only  fuppofecl  to  be  your  princi- 
pal typographer,  but  it  has  been  clearly  afcertained- 
Gracious  Heavens  I  How  can  you  as  a  man,  patro- 
nize fuch  a  fellow  ?  whofe  trade  is  fcandal,  whole 
Sread  depends  upon  the  circulation  of  falfchood  ?  his 
Jnaiscariages  of  criticism  upon' every  thing  he  has  at- 
tempted are  a  disgrace  to  literature.  Even  on  the  fub- 
ect  of  the  theatres  he?  your  Coleman,  and  an  apothe- 
£ary,  "  whom  I  remember  that  hereabout  doth  dwell* 
Culling  of  firnples,  and  old  cakes  of  roles." 

THEY  have  the  afTurance  to  iffue  forth  TKEIR  criti* 
cisms  on  theatricals.     I   think  it  neceffary  to  bring  in 
Ills  fubjecl  to  (hew,  that  it  is  a  junto  of  the  fame  degree 
of  the  knights    of    the    grey-gcote-wing     that    write 
againfr  the  prelident,  the  people?  and  the   theatre.     I 

tti  therefore*  juftified  in  bringing  in  this  remark. — 
Two  or  three  Scribieru/iTes,  I  rea'ly  believe,  have  got 

he  freedom  of  the  houfe  (theatre)  from  the  ma- 
nager? and  they  are  obliged  to  repay  him  in  the  hum- 
ble coin  of  publifliing  whatever  he -dictates.  Tlius 


LETTERS    TO 


all  the  performers  lie  at  the  mercy  of  the  manager^ 
whpfe  only  merit  lies  in  the  tranflation  of  a  few 
itupid  German  plays  of  which  it  would  take  more 
\\ran  five- hundred  to  make  one  plot,  like  Shakefpeare's 


THE   impudence  of  thefe  critics?  mult  appear  evi- 
dent to  every  man  of  tafte  who  has  fcen  the  world.  — 
Thofe  <f  mjnor  critics"  have  had  the   affurance  to  bla- 
zon forth  th  e  merits  of  fubal  tern  performers,  and  thei^ 
throw    cold   water    upon   the  fiift-rate.     They  have 
evinced  this  difpofition  in  their  muhuin  in  -parvo  remarks: 
upon  Mr.  Ilodgkinfan?  to  whom  they  wilj  allow  n 
other  merit,  than,  that  "  he  performed  his  part  with 
propriety."     Here  is  a  iilent  intention    o.f  black  and 
vindictive   malice,  let    it    come  from  what  quarter  i 
may.     And  to  which  I  reply,  that  Hodgkinfon  is  th< 
heft  general  performer  I  have  known,     fn    the   fam 
ft  rain  of  hireling   criticifin  —  thpfe  Irving??  and  Cole.- 
mans,  and  the  poor  apothecaries  and  their  apprentic 
have  been    itching   to  attack  Mrs;   Whidock,  who: 
powers    cannot  be   found   out  by  any  Pp.f  this  ba 
of  cri.ics.      Yet   every  perfon  of  genuine  ta^e  mu; 
admit  that  fhe  is  the  belt  performer  that  -has  yet  a 
pcared  in  America.     Let  thofe  demi-critics  dare  to  fa 
that  they  have  ever  fecn  fueh  a6ling  as  her's  in 
ghiin'a  ?  yet  they  freeze  at  the  thought  of  paying  h 
the  fmalleft  compliment.     They  undoubtedly  are 
thoriscd  in  thus  maneuvering  by  the  manager,  wh< 
time   would  be  better  employed   in  ordering  the 
ffuliitipn   of   the    urulcr  characters  of  every   play 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON.       $  f£ 

CSarrick  would  not  permit  a  meffenger  to  delivers 
melfage  to  himfelf  unlefs  the  performer  under/food  the 
fubjcct  and  looked  him  full  in  the  face.— -But,  Mr. 
Dunlap,  thinks  all  this  under-management  unnecefla-* 
ry — if  fo,  how  can  the  firft  performers  exert  their  ta- 
lents ?  how  could  Hodgkinfon,  in  Dionifius,  har- 
rajigue  his  foldiers  when  they  ftcod  like  a  row  of  palli- 
fadoes  at  the  back  af  the  Itage,  and  if  he  had  addrefT- 
€d  them  in  that  pofition,  he  muft  have  turned  his 
back  upon  the  audience. — There  was  no  body  to  tell 
them  what  to  do,  but  Hodgkinfon  himfelf,  and  I 
heard  him  whifper  fomething  to  the  TROOPS,  after 
which  they  marched  in  detour  fo  as  to  form  a  front  on 
the  fide  fcenes.  I  mention  thefe  things  to  fhew  the 
influence  of  the  inanagers  on  thofe  writers  of  criti- 
cifms,  and  alfo  to  intimate  the  power  of  Mi"-  Hamilton 
•over  the  writers  for  Coleman,  Bayard  and  Lang. 

COLEMAN  in  humble  imitation  of  the  reft  of  thefe 
bribed  critics  of  Mr.  Dunlap,  muft  alfo  come  on., 
•limping  after  the(e?with  hjs  fagacipus  and  moft  per- 
fpicuous  remarks  ;  but,  if  he  dpes  nQt  cut  a  better  fi- 
gure in  that  field  of  fancy  than  he  has  on  the  political 
.theatre?  he  had  better  beat  a  retreat  quickly  to  the 
.  tune  pf/*  The  General,"— "  Strike  your  tents  and 
,.f  march  away." 

THE  abufive  language  which  this  man  has  intro,- 

jduced  into  the  Evening  Poft  is   more  bafe  and  vile 

than  that  of  Porcupine  or  Callender — it  is  even  equ^l 

.  to  Lang's  infolent  publication  of  L***^  moil  malig- 

•nant  gall?  or  the  Commercial   Editor's   attempts  at 


54  *  LETTERS    TO 

BUT  I  can  account  for  this  laft  mentioned  gentle-, 
man's  infolence.  He  was  intended  for  a  lawyer  by 
Papa,  who  was  a  vendue  mailer  in  Philadelphia  ;  but, 
fome  how,  he  was  not  the  kind  of  wood  to  make  a 
Mercury  of;  therefore  he  did  not  fucceed  at  the  bar* 
His  friends,  however,  made  intereft  to  get  him  ap- 
pointed Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Pennfylvania* 
at  the  firft  meeting  of  that  Court  in  Philadelphia, 
when  Mr,  Jay  was  Chief  Juftice  of  the  United  States, 
and  appeared  on  the  bench  in  party-colored  filkea 
robes,  as  rlafhy  as  any  Roman  Bifhop  ever  wore  when 
performing  the  ceremony  of  high  mafs  on  an  Eaftet 
holiday,  .  The  poft  of  Clerk  was  not  lucrative 
enough  to  make  a  permanent  living  for  our  Editor- 
there  was  fcarcely  any  bufmefs  to  be  tranO6ted  in  the 
Court  at  that  time,  as  there  was  no  -Alien  or  Sedition 
laws  exifting  under  YVafhington's  administration.—- 
Thofe  difgraceful  acts  were  left  for  his  fuccefl'or  to 
manufacture. 

The  poft  therefore  conferred  on  our  Editor  was 
•no  more  than  a  feather  in  his  cap,  which  would  never 
fupport  a  family,  and  as  he  was  now  entered  on  the 
lift  of  office-hunters,  he  made  application  for  ano- 
I  ther  poft,  which,  through  the  intereft  of  his  connec- 
tions, he  obtained. — He  was  appointed  to  go  to  Lon- 
don to  affift  in  fettling  the  difputed  claims  of  the  Ame- 
ricans with  the  Englifli  merchants  for  marine  fpolia- 
tions  ;  towards  which  he  contributed  very  little. — 
The  credit  of  that  fettlement  is  due  to  our  AmbarTa- 
<lor,  Rufus  King>  who 'very  judlciouOy-  finiilied  the 
work  by  a  Tingle  dafh  of  his  pen,  by  boldly  lumping 


ALEXANDER     HAMILTON.  ££ 

the  whole  intricacy  of  the  various  claims  into  one 
confolidated  fum,  which  is  fo  well  known  to  the  pub- 
lic as  to  render  it  unneceffary  to  fay  any  thing  further 
on  the  fubjecr,  at  prefent  ;  only  to  remark,  that  our 
Editor's  office  was  confequently  rendered  null  and 
void  ;  and,  as  he  could  not  live  in  London  upon  the 
air,  without  a  falary,  he  very  prudently  returned  to  his 
native  foil,  very  much  chagrined  againft  our  admini- 
ftration,  for  not  continuing  him  in  pay  after  .the  offica 
was  abolifhed. 

This  accounts  in  one  meafure  for  his  refentmcnt 
againft  Mr.  JefFerfon  ever  fince.  There  is  another 
reafon  which  alfo,  probably  operates  on  his  gall  — 
The  repeal  of  the  judiciary  extravaganza^  whereby 
Judge  BalTet  loft  his  birth,  who  is  father-in-law  to  a 
near  relation  of  our  editor*  and  who  has  alfo  loft  ius 
election,  in  Deleware,  by  the  confcnt  of  the  vocc 


Thefe  are  fa6ls,  to  which  our  editor  has  not  fufiici- 
cnt  philofophy  to  fubmit,  altho'  they  are  the  common 
Ycfult  of  natural  c'aufes.  He  therefore>  has  fet  up  a 
barking  and  yelping  in  conjunction  with  the  relt  of 
the  whole  pack  of  hounds  that  have  been  ftriving  to 
hunt  down  the  fair  fame  of  our  firft  magiftrate  ;  and 
what  makes  it  ftili  the  more  difguftful  is,  the  patron- 
agc  given  to  this  pack  by  you?  Sir>  whofe  ftation  in. 
life  oug'U  to  prevent  your  linking  into  fuch  pitiful 
arts,  and  fcandalous  libels.  It  is  from  thefe  provoca- 
tions that  I  have  thought  you,  Sir,  (Mr.  Hamilton) 
the  moft  proper  pcrfonage.  to  addrefs  thefe  letters  to  ; 


•j|  LETTERS    TO; 

and  becaufe  I  defpife  your  emiffarieft  too  much,  t& 
defcend  into  a  corrcfpondcnce  with  them,  whilft  you 
are  fo  prominent  in  my  view. 

The  pilot-boat  expedition  of  Smiih,  Duer,  and  Co. 
are  Hill  well  recollected.  Whilft  your  funding 
fyftem  was  on.  the  carpet ;  and  when  a  right  calcula- 
lion  could  be  formed  on  the  vote  that  would  be  car- 
lied  for  it  in  preference  to  Mr.  Madifon's  propofi- 
tions — whilft  it  was  yet  pending,  thofc  fpecuiating 
companies  took  up  all  the  hard  money  they  could 
borrow  on  their  credit,  &c.  and  fent  it  off  by  a  troop 
of  brokers  arid  clerks,  in  pilot-boats  and  flages,  who 
Vv*ere  difpcrfed  through  Carolina,  and  fdme  oth&r 
dates  to  p uf chafe  up  the  poor  foldiers*  certificates  at 
two  fhillings  and  fix-pence  for  the  pourid,  and  per- 
haps for  lefs  than  that  poor  eyMcdtnt*  Thofe  gen- 
tlemen knew  their  game,  and  altho'  you  had  no 
hand  in  that  job?  you  certainly  winked  at  it.  Ano- 
ther plot  of  a  deeper  dye  was  likewife  attempted  on 
the  members  of  the  United  States  legislature,  when 
an  effort  was  made  to  purchafe  the  votes  of  fome 
of  them?  to  vote  for  a  law  to  grant  a  charter  to  a 
company  of  land-jobbers  for  the  dominion  of  a  large 
tracl  of  country,  whereby  they  would  all  of  them  be- 
come a  train  of  petty  princes.  Their  mode  of  ad- 
drefs  was  to  iffue  certain  vouchers  or  tickets,  like 
lottery-tickets — payable  only  to  bearer  ;  fo  that  even  , 
fhould  thofe  tickets  be  found  in  poffefiion  of  any  of 
them,  no  name  beirig  inferted,  the  bribed  member 
aould  not  be  difcovered.— This  plot  failed— there 
were  a  fufficient  number  in  congfefs  to  refift?  and 

ecl  the  bafe  attempt,  as  there  ever  will   be.— Tk'6 


HAMILTON.  £7 

aggregate  wifdom  and  virtue  cf  our  general  legiflature, 
will  always  oppofe  fuch  attempts, 
1  will  here  take  the  liberty  of  recording  fome  others  of 
the  fame  (lamp.  The  bank  of  N.orth  America,  was  fet 
Up  with  the  king  of  France's  dollars,,  fent  here  to  pay; 
the  revolutionary  army,  when  they  were  on  the  point  of 
a  mutiny— yet  Mr.  Robt.  Morris,  with  the  affi&mce  of 
his  advifers,  had  the  addrefs  to  fatisfy  the  foldiers  with, 
his  own  fix  months  notes  without  ever  allowing  the  ho* 
fellows  to  palm  a  fix-pence  of  the  cam.  The  money 
was  made  into  a  bank,  and  the  foldiers  were  paid  with 
notes,  with  which  they  purchafed  {hoes  at  ten  dollars 
the  pair,  hats,  &c.  on  the  fame  reaj enable  terms,  at  va- 
rious (lores,  fet  up  by  this  Robert  Morris,  and  his  a* 
gents,  in  ey*ry  quarter  of  the  United  States ;  fo  that  in 
the  end  the  foldiers  never  touched  the  money,  although 
he  made  the  profit. 

BUT  fee  what  is  the  confluence  of  ill-gotten  wealth—* 
it  is  like  an  Eaft  India  fortune,  never  goes  to  a  third 
generation.  This  fame  Mr.  financier-general  of  the 
Bui  ted  States,  who  acled  this  character  towards  the  peo- 
ple, and  who  alfo  played  fome  far  gent  tricks  upon  the 
arquis  la  Fayette — he — the  mighty  man  h&$  fallen,  as 
ipany,  many  more  of  your  acquaintances  have  done—* 
Efieenleaf — Nicholfon,  &c.— -  The  Eaftern  and  South- 
pi  cognofcenti  in  fpeculation — yet  thefe  are  the  fort  cf 
en  that  want  to  recover  the  reins  of  our 'government — 
hefe  are  the  men  who  come  in  flecks  to  confult  with 
ou  in  New-York  upon  a  plan  or  ylot  of  operation  a- 
ainll:  the  prefent  fkfe  and  mild  adminiftration.  Let 
hem  beware  how  far  they  proceed — let  them  pivafe* 
,  f -T~  Mmfietir  le  Ge-vfrneur,  a.s  Porcupine,  calls  him— 

H 


3$  tETTERS    TO 

let  your  tribes  of  calumniating  editors  with  all  their 
thoufand  tongues  —  let  your  fecret-working  hypocritical 
parfons  —  your  out-o  -office  fallen  angels  —  let  even  the 
J-jrfey  Jove,  and  you,  Sir,  beware  how  far  you  carry  on 
this  trade  of  iniquity,  left  the  people  mould  be  roufed 
with  indignation  againft  your  Satanic  incantations  and 
dcfpotic  fyflcms,  and  in  their  honeft  zeal  pronounce  them> 
TREASON  t 

TOM  CALLKNDER. 


LETTER  VI. 

SIR* 

1  HAVE  always  confidered  it  to  be  an  indifpenfible 
duty  of  the  editcrs  of  news-rapers  to  render  to  the  pub- 
lic who  fupport  them,  a  due  i.ccount  of  fuch  informa- 
tion as  may  have  fJlen  within  the  fphere  cf  their  know- 
ledge, efpeciaiiy  or  circuirftanceb  relative  to  the  wel!- 
f  i  e  or  danger  of  the  ftate.  Amongft  the  multiplicity 
of  objects  that  are  daily  burfliug  on  their  view,  anc 
\vl  i'fl  fo  much  notice  has  been  taken  of  our  dome/He 
pp.;.  .1  h/jts,  it  ferns  ftrunge  that  thefe  editors  fhould  o- 
verlook  or  neg1eci  noticing,  o^  anfwering,  the  infamous 
Banders  cf  both  foreign  and  domeftic  intruders  upon  all 
c'ecency  and  civil  government  ;  foire  of  whom  have 
been  nirfed  in  the  bo.-om  of  America,  and  others  fof- 
t(T€'\  arncrgft  WQ,  who  onlv  wciic  !  for  an  opportunity 
to  fting;  the  ha;;d  tha*  ^;  ed  ilv  rt  f--_rn  obfcur'-ty  into  fi- 
illations  of  profit  and  honor.  Even  two  or  three  of  ouc 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  $9 

tlo&ors  of  divinity  have  incurred  the  d-jreftalion  of  their 
own  congregations,  who  have  informed  me  of  this  &&, 
and  who  were  accuftomed  to  attend  their  difcourfes  with 
pure  delight ;  but  who  have  fince  deferred  them,  in 
confequence  of  their  having  deferted  iheir  duty  to  God, 
by  becoming  the  mean  inftruments  of  polemical  intrigue 
or  dark  and  difmal  tyranny,  which  was  tried  and  weigh- 
ed in  the  fcales  of  unfuccefsful  ambition.  The  mercan- 
tile intereft  of  this  country  to  whom  I  wifh  to  pay  a 
real  refptct,  wi!J  now  confefs  how  much  they  were  mif- 
td»  en  by  patronizing  (ibme  of  them)  Porcupine's  Ga- 
zette, the  editor  of  which  (Gobbet)  fince  his  return  to 
England  has  thrown  off  the  mafk  of  Fec'eralifm,  and 
now  exhibits  himfelf  in  native  colours — >hat  he  was 
only  a-fpy  whilft  he  was  here,  that  he  wifhes  to  injure 
and  deftroy  the  mutual  intercourfe  and  ccmnKrce  be- 
tween that  nation  and  this,  which  it  is  our  inter  eft  j  as 
well  as  theirs,  to  preferve  moft  inviolably.  He  endea- 
vors to  throw  us  into  contempt  in  the  e  es  of  the  Bri- 
tiih  merchants — to  injure  and  wound  for  ever,  if  he  could^ 
the  credit  and  character  of  America. 

MY  friends — ye  merchants  of  the  Uivted  States — tell 
me,  is  this  not  the  fa£t  ? — When  you  read  his  review 
you  muft  acknowledge  it,  and  you  mutt  all  be  of  one  o- 
pinion,  that  he  has  betrayed  you  in  fuch  a  ftyle  as  to 
forc2  from  you  an  ejaculaton — et  he  is  the  blac^efl  of 
traitors." — For  the  honor  of  humanity,  nevertheiefs,  I 
cannot  ftippofe  that  the  honeft  and  en'igutened  mer- 
chants of  either  England  or  America,  or  of  any  other 
country  under  Heaven,  would  be  influenced  by  the 
falfehooxb  and  fcurrility  cf  the  verieft  ruffian  that  ever 


Co  LETTERS  TO 

iiifgrnced  the  freedom  of  theprefs.  Under  this  impref- 
fion,  I  would  be  inclined  to  think  that  his  attacks  upon 
An: erica  ami  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  although 
pub'ilhed  in  London  in  a  daily  news-paper,  will  not  have 
any  injurious  effect  to  the  wel!-eib.blimed  trade  between 
the  two  countries.  The  treacherous  attempts  of  a  few 
eicfpicablc  Englishmen,'  to  prevent  our  having  a  good 
bi*ce:i  of  iheen,  by  p-jrchafm*  and  killing  them,  to  fend 
divay  as  faJted  provifions — to  burn  a  fpianing  machine  at 
Philadelphia,  left  we  fhould  go  on  with  the  cotton  or 
any  other  manufactory — all  thefe  things  I  defpile,  nor  . 
do  I  put  it  to  the  charge  or  account  againft  the  Britim 
nation.  If  there  beany  truth  in  the  whole  of  thefe 
charges,  the  fru.me  oustfit  to  reft  upon  ihe  individuals 
who  perpetrated  the  crime,  for  I  fokmnly  declare  that  no 
men  coulJ  make  me  believe  that  the  government,  or  tlie 
fc-.ple  of  that  country,  would  or  coi;ld  ever  countenance 
fuch  an  abominable  proceeding.  The  Britim  are  too 
enlightened  n  nation  to  fuffer  a  ftigma  like  this  upon  their 
character.  Thtre  may  be  feme  envious  perfons  whcfe 
fpeculations  into  futurity  will  not  carry  them  farther  than 
the  length  of  their  notes  ;  but  there  are  thoufands  of 
Englifhmen  who  contemplate  America  in  a  very  different 
point  of  view,  and  who  can  clearly  perceive  the  riling 
conflquencc  of  the  United  State-,  and  our  rapid  career 
tor/aid.-;  a  Nation  of  more  Tub!  i  me  confequence  than  any 
of '-he  an'ier.t  or  modern  nations  could  ever  boafl  of.— 
J«Jor  is  ihe  time  fo  very  diuant  when  this  great  aera  will 
take  place,  Lei's  than  half  a  century  will  verify  this  pre- 
diction, and  exhibit  to  the  world  an  American  navy  e- 
qual  to  that  of  any  ether  nation  that  may  THEN  be  in 
ex^iun  ce  noiwhhxlandiiig  tfie  infiduous  plots  and 


HAMILTON.  5l* 

fchemes  of  either  internal  or  external  foes  to  cramp  or 
confute  us.  I  will  alfo  hazard  another  affertion  ftill 
ftronger  than  the  laft.  That,  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OF  AMERICA  WILL  CONTINUE  TO  BB 
A  REPUBLIC.  Ths  idle  conjeclures  of  all  the  po- 
liticians in  the  world  cannot  prevent  it.  The  viliona- 
ry  hopes  of  Mr.  Adams  cannot  prevent  it>  ncr  all  the 
powers  of  Europe  in  conjunction.  This  may  appear 
to  fome  perfons  to  be  too  extravagant  an  idea — but  I 
think  it  is  a  conclufion  that  may  be  fairly  deduced 
from  found  doctrine  and  juft  calculation.-— FRANCE  .i 
AMERICANS  fet  the  example,  in  their  revolt  from 
tyranny?  for  you  to  imitate  ;  but  it  has  been  referved 
for  FRENCHMEN  to  decide  the  moft  important  quef- 
tion  that  has  ever  been  agitated  in  the  world  !  The 
annals  of  this  earth  afford  no  fimilar  inftanceof  a  pe- 
riod fo  highly  interefting  to  humanity.  The  great 
and  glorious  problem  has  been  folved— whether  man-' 
kind  were  born  to  be  the  everlalting  dupes  and  flaves 
of  ten  or  a  dozen  murdering  defpots  ;  or  whether  ths 
God  of  Nature  created  this  globe  for  the  ufe  of  its  in- 
habitants ?  The  decifion  has  been  in  favor  of  the  peo- 
ple—the  difpute  was  between  men  and  kings  : 
France  and  America  have  both  fncceeded>  and  al- 
though there  may  at  prefent  be  vefied  too  high  a  de- 
gree of  arbitrary,  power  in  the  hand  .of  the  chief  ma- 
.giftratC)  I  have  the  ftrong  hope  and  afTurance  in  my 
own  mind  that  the  Republican  form  of  government 
will  neverthelefs  be  preferved  there  as  we!J  as  in  this 
country. — France  alone  by  the  real  equality  of  its  in- 
dividuals as  to  knowledge  and  manners  is  mod  capa- 
ble of  perfecl  freedom  ;  .but  it  has  become  falhiona- 


6*2  LETTERS    T* 

ble  among  a  certain  clafs  of  men,  to  depreciate  the 
very  principles  of  liberty  and  equality  of  election  ; 
becaufe,  fome  temporary  effedts  have  taken  place  in 
France*  from  the  confuiion  of  the  times,  that  will 
not  bear  a  vindication.  Let  thofe  gentlemen,  howe- 
ver, confider  and  enquire)  "  whether  thefe  effe6ts,  as 
far  as  they  are  unfortunate,  are  not  derived  from  the 
treachery  of  thofe  who  expended  the  revenue  allowed 
them  by  the  KEW  fyftem,  in  endeavoring  to  reftore 
the  OLD  one  ?"  And  if  thefe  effects  are  found  to  have 
been  fo  procured,  what  fhould  refult  from  the  difco- 
very  but  a  confirmed  abhorrence  of  the  OLD  fyftem 
and  of  that  political  creed?  which  invites  men  to 
crimes  by  rendering  THEM  facred." 

THE  fame  argument  will  apply  to  this  country 
under  the  laft  adminiflration,  as  it  does  likewife  to 
your  ideas  of  forms  of  government  which  you  had 
the  boldnefs  to  propofe  in  the  convention  of  1787. 
The  plan  you  propofed  was  happily  rejected,  and 
the  confutation  which  was  adopted  has  been  fo  wife- 
ly and  prudently  amended*  that  it  now  gives  complete 
fecurity  to  THE  PEOPLE  in  general,  and  I  am  fur  e 
it  will  be  carried  on  with  fatisfaction  by  the  prefent 
adminiftration,  in  defpite  of  all  the  impotent  attacks 
of  yourfelf  and  the  weak  opposition  of  your  coadju- 
tors, who  will  not  allow  that  all  mankind  are  com- 
petent to  judge  of  the  bell  form  of  government  for 
their  general  happi  ncfs — your  doctrine  is,  that  a  few 
kingly  animals  are  more  competent,  who  have  been 
and  ever  will  be  (fo  long  as  the  earth  is  burthened 
with  them)  educated  by  fervile  flatterers,  imr>oiiors 
and  ilaves.  It  is  .a  melancholy  truth;  that  in  this  en- 


ALEXANDER    HAMILTON  tfj 

lightened  age,  there  fhould  ftill  be  found?  even  ia 
America,  men  who  will  advocate  an  hereditary  chief 
magiftracy.  tc  The  experience  of  paft  ages,"  fay  they, 
<*  juilifies  us  in  this  conclufion- — that  although  repub- 
lican forms  of  government  are  the  moft  natural  and 
approved  fyftems,  yet  the  inclination  of  parties  feem 
to  bend  fo  quickly  toward  monarchy,  we  had 
better  come  to  it  at  once,  in  order  to  prevent  trou- 
blefome  altercations  and  political  difquifitions." 
Thus — would  thefe  FRIENDS  of  republicanifm  fur- 
render  the  divine  and  natural  rights  of  man,  rather 
than  ftruggle  again/I  the  artful  encroachments  of  falfe 
and  ungodly  dodrine.  But  the  prefent  government 
of  the  United  States  is  republican  and  will  remain  fo> 
I  hope,  forever — and  will  always  furnifh  a  fufficient 
confutation  of  this  midaken  axiom ;  and  always  put 
a  flop  to  the  ambitious  views  of  men  who  wanted  to 
cry  c(  havoc"  and  let  loofe  the  cc  dogs  of  war  !" 

THIS  hankering  after  a  (landing  army,  muft  nro^ 
ceed  from  fome  evil  fpirit  that  hath  taken  poffeflioa 
of  fome  of  our  citizens,  and  ought  to  be  kept  un- 
der— accordingly  we  have  fet  it  down  for  a  thoufand 
years,  as  is  mentioned  in  the  book  of  the  revelations 
of  St.  John,  chapter  xx.  "And  I  faw  an  angel 
come  down  from  Heaven,  having  the  key  of  the 
bottomlefs  pit,  and  a  great  chain  in  his  hand. — And 
he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon,  -^War,)  that  old  ferpent, 
which  is  the  Devil,  and  Satan,  and  bound  him  a  thou- 
fand years— And  caft  him  into  the  bottomlefs  pit,  and 
fhut  him  up,  and  fet  a  feal  upon  him,  that  he  fhould 
deceive  the  nations  no  more,  till  the  thoufand  years 
ftould  be  fulfilled/'  &$. 


64  CETTERS   TO,    &TC. 

IfA  VING  thus  got  clear  of  you  and  your  intrigues, 
as  it  is  "  devoutly  to  be  wiflied,"  for  a  thoufand. 
years,  we  expe6l  that  our  government  and  admini- 
flration  will  go  on  with  the  fame  degree  of  character- 
iftical  firmnefs,  and  prudence  that  it  commenced 
with. — The  yells  of  Difcontents  will  be  fet  down 
to  the  account  of  their  own  folly. — With  regard  to 
myfelf?  I  never  held  any  place  or  penfion  under  the 
government ;  nor  do  I  believe  1  ever  fhall  ;  nor  do 
I  expecl  to  receive  any  more  emolument  for  publifh- 
ing  thefe  letters  than  you  did  when  you  made  a  prc- 
fent  (to  Mr.  X^ang)  of  the  Copy-right  of  your  letter 
addreifed  to  poor  John  Adams.  I  am  as  independ- 
ent as  you  are  in  mind  and  body.  The  individual 
or  collective  intereft  of  the  Clintonians,  Hamilton!- 
ans,  or  Jefferfonians,  could  never  operate  on  my 
mind  fo  long  as  a  fingle  fecond  of  time. — Our  go- 
vernment is  now  fafe,  and  the  administration  of  it 
fecure  ;  nor  fhall  any  of  our  internal?  or  exte  Tial 

enemies  dare  to  overturn  it. 

TOM  CALLENDER, 


FINIS. 

RIGHT   SECURED. | 


~T" 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


LD  21-100m-ll,'49(B7146sl6)476 


M159463 

esai 

Ca 
X 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


